Lentil is among the cool season food legumes cultivated in many countries. Several attempts have been made in the past to collect and evaluate lentil germplasm. In this respect the contribution of ICARDA has been of great significance. Representativesamples of germplasm have been collected from all the major lentil growing areas of the world. Although the search for new genes will continue it seems the majority of gene combinations, which survived in nature, are already represented in the germplasmcollections. Our knowledge of single genes governing precise traits is limited. Little effort has been made to induce mutations and discover genes not detected in the natural germplasm. Thus there is scope to collect more germplasm and enhance genetic variability through induced mutation. Taxonomically the cultivated lentil species Lens culinaris has been divide into two subspecies: microsperma and macrosperma. Besides seed size, the two groups differ in many other properties including intensity of green colour, leaf and leaflet size, presence of pubescence, testa colouration, duration of flowering/maturity, tolerance to stress of various kinds, susceptibility to diseases and cotyledon colour. The macrosperma lentils evolved in the cooler regions of subtropical Europe and are called Mediterranean lentils. Genotypes belonging to this group are usually late in maturity and require better crop management for survival. The microsperma lentils are called Indian lentils as they evolved in the harsh conditions of short-day winters in the Indian subcontinent. They have orange (red) cotyledons, small seeds, black spotted testas, deep green foliage, pubescent plants and they flower and mature much earlier than macrosperma lentils. They are also tolerant to drought and disease. As expected, there is a range of genotypes with different character combinations in each of the two groups of lentils. Their subspecies status is also questionable as they are freely crossable and character combinations from both groupsare easily achieved.
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