Muhammad Siddique Sadiq, Sajjad Haidar, Muhammad Ahsanul Haq, Ghulam Abbas, Munir Ahmad Chaudhary and Noor Muhammd
Keywords: Seed irradiation, exotic germplasm, lentil, mutant, high yielding, disease resistant
Abstract: A high yielding mutant derived after seed irradiation of an exotic ICARDA (International Center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas) accession ILL 2580, was evaluated under the name of NL 20-9-4 for seed yield and wide adaptation in different yield trials during 1993-2006. It has shown superb yield performance in various yield trials i.e. yield screening nursery, intermediate, advanced and adaptation, conducted during 1993-2000 by producing 20% to 60% higher seed yield as compared to standard varieties; Masoor 85 and Masoor 93. In Lentil National uniform yield trials; NL 20-9-4 was tested at eleven locations including five locations in Punjab province of Pakistan during 2001-02 and twelve locations including five locations in Punjab during 2002-03. NL 20-9-4 ranked second by producing 1121 kg ha–1 during 2001-2002 and secured fourth position by producing seed yield of 1763 kg ha–1 during 2002-03 in the country. NL 20-9-4 showed an increase of 15% and 12% in seed yield over Masoor 93 during the year 2001-02 and 2002-03 respectively. NL 20-9-4 produced significantly the highest yield of 1983 kg ha-1 and 1685 kg ha-1 when planted on November 10, 2004 and November 22, 2005 respectively in agronomic trials. This line has shown resistance against Ascochyta blight, rust, and Botrytis. It has distinctness of thick stem with profuse pubescence, erect growth habit, dark green leaf, synchronous pod maturity and higher number of pods. Based on high seed yield potential along with other desirable traits, NL 20-9-4 has been approved with the name of “NIAB MASOOR 2006’’ for general cultivation in the lentil growing areas of the Punjab province. Its release is expected to increase lentil production and will curtail import bill of the country.
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