Evaluation of Lentil Recombinant Inbred Lines using Drought Tolerance Indices

To identify drought tolerant lines among 168 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between Hindi variety of L3685 (high yielding, erect type and early growth) as female parent and Iranian variety of Qazvin (with prostrate growth and late growth) as male parent, two experiments were conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications under non-stress and drought stress conditions at the experimental Field of Shahrekord University in 2013. Results of combined analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences among lines under study in both experimental conditions in terms of grain yield (P≤0.01). Significant interaction of line×conditions revealed that lines responded differently to drought stress based on grain yield. Results also indicates that lines 160, 125 and 129 were promising lines under both conditions in terms of grain yield. Positive and significant correlation between tolerance indices and grain yield under stress and non-stress conditions indicated that the STI, MP, HARM and GMP indices may identify promising from non promising lines. Based on the above criteria, lines 160, 125, 48, 103 and 129 were recognized as drought tolerant lines. According to the results of principal components analysis, the first and second components determined 97.8% of the total variations among genotypes under study for drought resistance indices. The distribution of lines in the biplot showed genetic variations to the drought stress and thus lines 160, 125, 48, 129 and 103 were identified as high yielders under drought stress condition.