Evaluation and characterization of ICARDAelite germplasm of lentil

Food legumes are a central part of the diet for many communities around the world and lentil could be an excellent choice to provide more nutritious foods. Lentil breeding program aims to develop adapted, high yielding, biotic and abiotic tolerant varieties. The success of any breeding program is dependent on the availability of genetic materials with sufficient diversity. In order to investigate the genetic diversity in elite germplasm of lentil, a total of 138 genotypes received from ICARDA were evaluated in research field of Seed and Plant Improvement Institute during 2015-2016 cropping season. These materials were studied in an observatory design by evaluating 28 quantitative and qualitative traits according to the Bioversity international descriptor. Results indicated that the highest Shannon index belonged to ground color of testa (1.33), testa pattern (0.85) and color of testa pattern (0.8). The traits seed weight per plant (CV=111.23%), grain yield (CV=81.58%) and pod weight per plant (CV=72.55%) had the highest coefficient of variation. The highest 100-seed weight and grain yield were recorded for genotypes 118 and 69, respectively. Genetic relatedness of genotypes was investigated by their pedigrees and values of genetic distance. Analysis of proximity values based on quantitative traits showed that genotypes 6 and 114 had the highest similarity and genotypes 42 and 130, had the highest genetic distance. The results of discriminant analysis of principal components indicated a successful classification based on quantitative traits in differentiating groups of genotypes. Totally, results indicate the presence of a valuable genetic diversity which could be used in advanced breeding programs.