Evaluation of Variation for Morphological and Agronomic Traits in Lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) Landrace Genotypes from Jordan

摘要

A breeding program that is genetically broadly based should be able to succeed in responding to environmental changes, disease and economic trends. Landraces are considered as an important genetic resource that harbors important genetic variability for crop improvement. Lentil is an important crop in Jordan and the countries of the Middle East; it is used in the diet of the people and in the rotation with cereal. The area and production of lentil in Jordan is decreasing year after year, because of the low yield of the cultivated varieties and the high cost of production. If this trend continues, local landrace will be disappearing soon and the genetic variability will be lost. This study evaluated 297 landrace accessions collected from different parts of Jordan along with three released varieties for several morphological and agronomic traits. Results showed the existence of high variability for most of the studied traits, specially grain yield and yield related attributes. Coefficient of variation(C.V.) ranged from 0.9 % for days to maturity to 58% for seed yield. C.V. values above 40% was recorded for the number of seeds per plant, number of pods per plant and harvest index. The phenotypic diversity index (H') for the studied characters was 0.827± 0.134 with the heights for plant height. Significant variability was found between the sites where the landraces were collected, which indicates specific adaptation of landraces to local environment. Jordan landraces were found to have high variability for most of the studied characters which could be utilized by breeders for the improvement of the crop. These genetic resources need to be conserved and properly utilized.