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GENETIC DIVERGENCE IN LENTIL GERMPLASM FOR BOTANICAL DESCRIPTORS IN RELATION WITH GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN

TAYYABA SULTANA, ABDUL GHAFOOR* AND MUHAMMAD ASHRAF

Abstract: Three hundred and seventeen accessions of lentil collected from all over the country were characterized for stem colour, pedicle colour, growth habit, tendrils, hairiness, leaf pubescence, leaflet size, pod pigmentation, pod indehiscence, presence/absence of beak, seed coat colour, seed coat pattern, seed coat pattern colour and cotyledon colour. Out of these accessions, 76 were heterogeneous that needs to evaluate carefully to isolate pure lines. Inter and intra-accession variation indicated the presence of local wealth for lentil that is yet needed to collect, therefore further exploration missions are suggested to collect germplasm from remote areas of NWFP, NA and Baluchistan with maximum emphasis to interiors rather than closer to motorable roads. High variability was observed for growth habit, leaf pubescence, leaflet size, seed coat colour, seed coat pattern and seed coat pattern colour that could be expanded and exploited for developing breeding material and to use for Marker Assisted Selection. Though clusters analysis grouped together accessions with greater genetic similarity, the cluster did not necessarily include all the accessions from same origin. Low level of association between genetic diversity and geographic distribution is expected to be due to less representation of accessions from particular area that is needed to be studied uniformly.
 

Department of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Plant Genetic Resources Programme, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Corresponding Author: ghafoor59pk@yahoo.com