The Nature of Diversity in Yield Influencing Traits of Lentil Genotypes

Lentil (Lens culinaris), an annual plant of the Fabaceae family, is extensively cultivated in Europe, Asia, and North Africa. In India, it is cultivated in rabi season (winter) and is an important legume due to its highly nutritious nature. Thirty-seven distinct lentil (Lens culnaris Medik) genotypes were examined for 10 quantitative traits, including seed yield and its associated characters. Among them, the maximum contribution most towards genetic divergence was observed by 100 seed weight. Seven clusters were created based D2 values comprising of all the genotypes. The cluster analysis revealed that the number of genotypes in each cluster ranged from 1 to 22. The clustering pattern confirmed the non-correspondence among geospatial and genetic diversity. Due to the fact that clusters IV and VI (670.74) had the greatest inter-cluster distance, their members were very diverse from one another. Days to flower initiation (61.73), days to maturity (112.47), no. of pods per plant (128.51), biological yield per plant (26.46), harvest index (44.41), and seed yield per plant (11.65) were among the traits for which entries from Cluster VI recorded the highest values. As a result, the genotypes from clusters IV and VI might be used in a hybridization scheme to create genotypes with high yields.