Evaluation and identification of wild lentil accessions for enhancing genetic gains of cultivated varieties

Domesticated lentil has a relatively narrow genetic base globally and most released varieties
are susceptible to severe biotic and abiotic stresses. The crop wild relatives could provide
new traits of interest for tailoring novel germplasm and cultivated lentil improvement. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate wild lentil accessions for identification of economically viable agro-morphological traits and resistance against major biotic stresses. The study
has revealed substantial variations in seed yield and its important component characters.
Further, the diversity analysis of wild accessions showed two major clusters which were bifurcated into sub-clusters, thereby suggesting their wider genetic divergence. However, principal component analysis exhibited that seed yield plant-1, number of seeds plant-1, number of
pods plant-1, harvest index and biological yield plant-1 contributed significantly to the total
genetic variation assessed in wild lentil taxa. Moreover, some of the wild accessions collected
from Syria and Turkey regions showed resistance against more than one disease indicating
rich diversity of lentil genetic resources. The identification of most promising genotypes carrying resistance against major biotic stresses could be utilized in the cultivated or susceptible
varieties of lentil for enhancing genetic gains. The study has also identified some trait specific
accessions, which could also be taken into the consideration while planning distant hybridization in lentil.