Publication Date

1995

Series Number

Occasional Paper No. 9

Publisher

Co-operative Research Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture

City

Perth

ISBN

O 86422 434 6

ISSN

1320-3665

Abstract

Lentil is one of the grain legumes with potential for inclusion into Australian farming systems on fine textured, neutral to alkaline soils. It is an important protein source for the large populations of the Indian sub-continent and elsewhere, and the export market potential is excellent. Old Canadian varieties grown on a small scale in Victoria (Laird and Callisto) are poorly adapted to short season WA environments, A number of varieties have recently been selected from ICARDA material and released in Victoria and SA (Digger, Cobber, Matilda and Aldinga), and these have adequate adaptation to commence a lentil industry in WA. Nevertheless, evaluation of material from a wide range of origins for morphological, phenological and physiological traits may provide genetic material with superior adaptation to WA conditions. Material from ICARDA, Bangladesh and Pakistan were evaluated for various traits including early flowering and ascochyta blight resistance in a number of nurseries at Merredin in 1994,

A drought resistance nursery comprising 30 lines from ICARDA revealed 17 elite lines with accelerated phenology and greater dry matter production and seed yields than the local check, Digger. These lines produced up to 98% more seed yield than Digger.

From an international germplasm evaluation nursery containing 236 lines from Bangladesh, ICARDA and Pakistan, 44 were selected as highly promising, producing up to 40% more seed yield than Digger.

Eight lines were selected out of 22 lines from an ICARDA ascochyta blight screening nursery, with superior disease resistance, earliness and high yielding ability.

From 14 Fs bulk populations provided by ICARDA, 46 single plants were selected based on vigour, plant height, early flowering and podding intensity.

All selections need to be tested further in the coming years to confirm their superiority. Based on this initial screening, the potential for release of some of this material as lentil varieties for short-season environments in WA and other parts of southern Australia is excellent.

Number of Pages

20

Keywords

Lentil, Temperate regions, Western Australia, Lentil research, Germplasm evaluation

Disciplines

Agricultural Science | Agronomy and Crop Sciences | Plant Biology | Plant Breeding and Genetics

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