Sepehr, a new lentil cultivar for cultivation in moderately warm regions

Lentil cultivar Sepehr was first introduced as FLIP 2005-53L line through LIDTN-L-08 ICARDA international nursery and was evaluated in Gachsaran and Maragheh stations in 2007-2008 cropping season. FLIP 2005-53L line in the cropping seasons 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 was evaluated in the preliminary and advanced yield trials in Gachsaran and Khorramabad research stations. After evaluating the results of advanced experiments, this line was selected to participate in the national uniform regional yield trial (2010-2013) in Gachsaran, Khorramabad, Gonbad and Moghan research stations. Stability analysis of genotypes grain yield in this experiment showed that this line had the lowest contribution in the interaction of genotype × environment using different statistical methods and also it had the lowest mean rank values ​​for non-parametric stability parameters as well as 19% increases in the grain yield (with grain yield of 1166 kgha-1) ‌ compared to the control cultivar Gachsaran (with grain yield of 978 kgha-1) and therefore can be considered as "one of the most stable genotypes" with high grain yield. FLIP 2005-53L line with average grain yield of 1902 kgha-1 in farmers field in the research-extension trials, had a 15% advantage of grain yield over control cultivar Gachsaran with grain yield of 1651 kgha-1. In addition to high grain yield, good yield stability, high resistance to fusarium disease, desirable 100-seed weight (4.2 g) and suitable plant type and plant height for machine harvesting were other reasons for releasing Sepehr cultivar. Sepehr cultivar is suitable for cultivation in subtropical regions of the country including Khuzestan, Fars, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Lorestan, Kermanshah, Ardabil (Moghan) and Ilam provinces.