Capturing hybrid vigor for lentil breeding

Abstract

Conventional breeding has produced low levels of yield increase in lentils (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris Medik.) in recent decades. As hybrids have led to large increases in yield in other crops, we examined the possibility of using hybrids in lentils. In 52 hybrids between Australian commercial cultivars and lines from a global collection of cultivated and wild accessions, we found 15 of the hybrids had seed yield hybrid vigor, with better parent heterosis (BPH) gains ranging from 10.4 to 125%. Flowering time, seed size, cotyledon color, and branch number were important but not critical for the level of hybrid vigor in seed yield. Plant height at 28 days post sowing (dps) could be an indicator of seed yield vigor of hybrids grown in glasshouse conditions. In the absence of male sterile lines in lentils, we used high-yielding hybrid combinations in a program of repeated selfing and selection to produce stable, highyielding lines (Hybrid Mimics) with grain yields similar to the F1 hybrids, avoiding the limitation of the hybrid advantage to the F1 generation. Seed yield increased in successive generations (F3-F5); yields of the F4 plants were close to that of the F1 hybrid. Our results indicate that there is potential for hybrid seed yield vigor in lentil to be accessed through hybrid mimic selection. This is a breeding method not dependent on male sterility that can be initiated with a low number of hand-pollinated hybrids. Hybrid mimic breeding may be applicable to a wide range of crops.

Combining Ability, Genetic Diversity and Their Association with Heterosis for Seed Yield in Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus)

“…A close perusal of Table 1 indicated that genotypic differences were significant for all characters which indicated the preponderance of sufficient genetic variability among Combining Ability, Genetic Diversity and their Association with Heterosis for Seed Yield in Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) the experimental material. The adequacy of genetic variability for these studied traits were also reported earlier by Sellami et al, 2021, Suri et al, 2022and Tan et al, 2022 in lentil. The diallel ANOVA indicated that MSS due to GCA and SCA effects were highly significant (p<0.01) for all the characters (Table 1).…”

Agronomic Performances and Seed Yield Components of Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) Germplasm in a Semi-Arid Environment

“…Several traits related to grain yield and protein content have been indicated as relevant aspects for the selection of genotypes for breeding improvement [28]. The generation of hybrids through crosses using commercial varieties and crosses between accessions could be an alternative practice to conventional breeding methods for boosting seed yields [29] as well as for increasing resistance to abiotic and biotic stress [30,31].…”

Identification of Macrosperma and Microsperma Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) Genotypes with Superior Nutritional, Industrial, and Productive Traits to Get Transgressive Segregants

“…They also obtained transgressive segregants for most of the traits evaluated, demonstrating that these crossings help to expand the genetic basis of the cultivated lentil. Furthermore, Tan et al (2022) 12 evaluating traits such as seed weight per plant, weight of 100 seeds, seed size, and number of pods per peduncle and plant showed higher values when hybridizations were carried out between macrosperma × microsperma varieties. Therefore, they suggest the use of varieties of the subspecies microsperma and macrosperma to increase the probabilities of generating a greater heterotic progeny.…”