Evaluation of freezing tolerance of selected lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) genotypes in feild conditions

Despite the benefits of autumn cropping compared to spring cropping, the negative impacts of freezing stress on crop growth and yield is the most important problem of the autumn cropping. So, identifying the freezing tolerant genotypes is a suitable approach to dissolve this problem. In this way, freezing tolerance of 40 lentil genotypes was assessed in 2018 in th Research Farm of Agriculture Faculty, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. The experiment was conducted as complete randomized block design with three replications. The lowest recorded temperature during the growth season was -12ºC. Survival percentage varied between 53 and 92% and the highest survival% (92%) was found in MLC8 and MLC33. Survival of 25 genotypes was higher than 75%. Highest plant height (61cm) and number of filled pods per plant (96 pods) was observed in MLC13 and MLC22, respectively. 100-grain weight in five genotypes (MLC16, MLC454, MLC458, MLC71 and MLC303) was more than 3 grams. The highest biomass and grain yield (3159 and 353 gm-2, respectively) was found in MLC334. Results of cluster analysis and comparison of the group means with overall mean indicated the superiority of eight genotypes (MLC8, MLC12, MLC13, MLC33, MLC74, MLC103, MLC469 and MLC742) based on survival percntage and grain yield. In general, among the 40 genotypes studied, eight genotypes had highest survival percentage and superior yield in -12ºC; Although, more experiments are needed to confirm the freezing tolerance of these genotypes.