diff --git a/src/backend/access/aocs/aocsam.c b/src/backend/access/aocs/aocsam.c
index fa8670a5fea2ed90b94c5baebf9353b401ff9f6b..059617f8fd0c2b4b042eef462a6a0475a512881e 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/aocs/aocsam.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/aocs/aocsam.c
@@ -1233,7 +1233,8 @@ aocs_fetch_init(Relation relation,
 		aocsFetchDesc->totalSegfiles,
 		aocsFetchDesc->relation,
 		relation->rd_att->natts,
-		true);
+		true,
+			proj);
 
 	Assert(relation->rd_att != NULL);
 
diff --git a/src/backend/access/appendonly/appendonlyam.c b/src/backend/access/appendonly/appendonlyam.c
index eedaf2c03e67d82f7ed24366a597d0db4292c275..ac210697c6669bb4543ee9bdbd3cb576ac15a651 100755
--- a/src/backend/access/appendonly/appendonlyam.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/appendonly/appendonlyam.c
@@ -2235,7 +2235,8 @@ appendonly_fetch_init(
 						aoFetchDesc->totalSegfiles,
 						aoFetchDesc->relation,
 						1,
-						false);
+						false,
+						NULL);
 
 	AppendOnlyVisimap_Init(&aoFetchDesc->visibilityMap,
 						aoentry->visimaprelid,
diff --git a/src/backend/access/appendonly/appendonlyblockdirectory.c b/src/backend/access/appendonly/appendonlyblockdirectory.c
index c28092e1f1afb3b04b6b2cad9145cb33347be7fb..f05e239497c191cee69463958c6e8a191a0604ca 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/appendonly/appendonlyblockdirectory.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/appendonly/appendonlyblockdirectory.c
@@ -141,8 +141,13 @@ init_internal(AppendOnlyBlockDirectory *blockDirectory)
 		palloc0(sizeof(MinipagePerColumnGroup) * blockDirectory->numColumnGroups);
 	for (groupNo = 0; groupNo < blockDirectory->numColumnGroups; groupNo++)
 	{
-		MinipagePerColumnGroup *minipageInfo = &blockDirectory->minipages[groupNo];
-		
+		if (blockDirectory->proj && !blockDirectory->proj[groupNo])
+		{
+			/* Ignore columns that are not projected. */
+			continue;
+		}
+		MinipagePerColumnGroup *minipageInfo =
+			&blockDirectory->minipages[groupNo];
 		minipageInfo->minipage =
 			palloc0(minipage_size(NUM_MINIPAGE_ENTRIES));
 		minipageInfo->numMinipageEntries = 0;
@@ -169,8 +174,9 @@ AppendOnlyBlockDirectory_Init_forSearch(
 	int totalSegfiles,
 	Relation aoRel,
 	int numColumnGroups,
-	bool isAOCol)
-{	
+	bool isAOCol,
+	bool *proj)
+{
 	Assert(aoEntry != NULL);
 
 	blockDirectory->aoRel = aoRel;
@@ -196,6 +202,7 @@ AppendOnlyBlockDirectory_Init_forSearch(
 	blockDirectory->appendOnlyMetaDataSnapshot = appendOnlyMetaDataSnapshot;
 	blockDirectory->numColumnGroups = numColumnGroups;
 	blockDirectory->isAOCol = isAOCol;
+	blockDirectory->proj = proj;
 	blockDirectory->currentSegmentFileNum = -1;
 
 	Assert(OidIsValid(aoEntry->blkdirrelid));
@@ -255,7 +262,8 @@ AppendOnlyBlockDirectory_Init_forInsert(
 	blockDirectory->currentSegmentFileNum = segno;
 	blockDirectory->numColumnGroups = numColumnGroups;
 	blockDirectory->isAOCol = isAOCol;
-	
+	blockDirectory->proj = NULL;
+
 	Assert(OidIsValid(aoEntry->blkdirrelid));
 
 	blockDirectory->blkdirRel =
@@ -319,7 +327,8 @@ AppendOnlyBlockDirectory_Init_addCol(
 	blockDirectory->currentSegmentFileNum = segno;
 	blockDirectory->numColumnGroups = numColumnGroups;
 	blockDirectory->isAOCol = isAOCol;
-	
+	blockDirectory->proj = NULL;
+
 	Assert(OidIsValid(aoEntry->blkdirrelid));
 
 	/*
@@ -560,6 +569,11 @@ AppendOnlyBlockDirectory_GetEntry(
 
 	for (tmpGroupNo = 0; tmpGroupNo < blockDirectory->numColumnGroups; tmpGroupNo++)
 	{
+		if (blockDirectory->proj && !blockDirectory->proj[tmpGroupNo])
+		{
+			/* Ignore columns that are not projected. */
+			continue;
+		}
 		/* Setup the scan keys for the scan. */
 		Assert(scanKeys != NULL);
 		scanKeys[0].sk_argument = Int32GetDatum(segmentFileNum);
@@ -1258,7 +1272,8 @@ AppendOnlyBlockDirectory_End_forSearch(
 
 	for (groupNo = 0; groupNo < blockDirectory->numColumnGroups; groupNo++)
 	{
-		pfree(blockDirectory->minipages[groupNo].minipage);
+		if (blockDirectory->minipages[groupNo].minipage != NULL)
+			pfree(blockDirectory->minipages[groupNo].minipage);
 	}
 
 	ereportif(Debug_appendonly_print_blockdirectory, LOG,
diff --git a/src/backend/commands/vacuum.c b/src/backend/commands/vacuum.c
index 9395e9550c21c55f45291bcca9ddc1fa793f0743..06f0dc93ec1423c2a9200c17f534a48086640ab3 100644
--- a/src/backend/commands/vacuum.c
+++ b/src/backend/commands/vacuum.c
@@ -2143,7 +2143,8 @@ vacuum_appendonly_indexes(Relation aoRelation,
 			totalSegfiles,
 			aoRelation,
 			1,
-			RelationIsAoCols(aoRelation));
+			RelationIsAoCols(aoRelation),
+			NULL);
 
 	/* Clean/scan index relation(s) */
 	if (Irel != NULL)
diff --git a/src/include/cdb/cdbappendonlyblockdirectory.h b/src/include/cdb/cdbappendonlyblockdirectory.h
index 9482ec8ddba361aa2e073ab883d2bb821e16e2e7..7f432e78475e846664d8c6dcd9f7fe65b71d37a9 100644
--- a/src/include/cdb/cdbappendonlyblockdirectory.h
+++ b/src/include/cdb/cdbappendonlyblockdirectory.h
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@ typedef struct AppendOnlyBlockDirectory
 	Relation blkdirIdx;
 	int numColumnGroups;
 	bool isAOCol;
-	
+	bool *proj; /* projected columns, used only if isAOCol = TRUE */
+
 	MemoryContext memoryContext;
 	
 	int				totalSegfiles;
@@ -182,7 +183,8 @@ extern void AppendOnlyBlockDirectory_Init_forSearch(
 	int totalSegfiles,
 	Relation aoRel,
 	int numColumnGroups,
-	bool isAOCol);
+	bool isAOCol,
+	bool *proj);
 extern void AppendOnlyBlockDirectory_Init_addCol(
 	AppendOnlyBlockDirectory *blockDirectory,
 	AppendOnlyEntry *aoEntry,
diff --git a/src/test/regress/input/aocs.source b/src/test/regress/input/aocs.source
index 02fa6c9b2878a3c109d2619d6ee7f879d5cc9dfd..bd50abbbf954cec38e6b3a2eaa6ebdfa79575a2c 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/input/aocs.source
+++ b/src/test/regress/input/aocs.source
@@ -283,7 +283,11 @@ select * from co where j = 2;
 insert into co values (9,2,'b'), (10,2,'bb'), (11,2,'bbb'), (12,2,'bbbb'),
 	(13,5,'aaaaa'), (14,6,'aaaaaa'), (15,7,'aaaaaaa'), (16,8,'aaaaaaaa');
 select * from co where j = 2;
-
+-- Select specific columns.  This covers the case when block directory
+-- entries for only specific columns need to be loaded during index
+-- scan.
+select i from co where j = 2;
+select j,i from co where k = 'aaa' or k = 'bbb';
 
 ---------------------
 -- UAO
diff --git a/src/test/regress/output/aocs.source b/src/test/regress/output/aocs.source
index 54c27ccb7b0503e9c722405f64db5058c3e8232b..576e06df79a099f6424164386622a09b541f4fa9 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/output/aocs.source
+++ b/src/test/regress/output/aocs.source
@@ -544,6 +544,28 @@ select * from co where j = 2;
  11 | 2 | bbb
 (6 rows)
 
+-- Select specific columns.  This covers the case when block directory
+-- entries for only specific columns need to be loaded during index
+-- scan.
+select i from co where j = 2;
+ i  
+----
+  9
+ 11
+  2
+ 10
+ 10
+ 12
+(6 rows)
+
+select j,i from co where k = 'aaa' or k = 'bbb';
+ j | i  
+---+----
+ 3 |  3
+ 3 | 11
+ 2 | 11
+(3 rows)
+
 ---------------------
 -- UAO
 ---------------------