Generation of biparental progenies and dissection of gene action for yield and related traits in lentil (Lens culinaris L. Medikus)

Lentil (Lens culinaris L. Medikus), commonly known as ‘masoor’, is one of the major cool-season food legumes. The present investigation was aimed at creating new genetic variability through biparental mating-derived progenies and studying the nature and magnitude of gene effects for yield and component traits. Biparental progenies were developed from three lentil crosses viz., PL 6 × PL 8; PL 6 × L 4147 and L 4147 × PL 7 and were evaluated alongwith F_2:3 progenies in the field. The resulting progenies released useful genetic variability including transgressive segregants. The magnitude of dominance genetic variance was higher than the additive genetic variance for traits viz. days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, number of primary branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, plant height (cm), number of pods per plant, seed diameter (mm), seed yield per plot (g), biological yield per plot (g) and harvest index. Hybridization followed by selection at later generations is suggested for exploiting dominance gene action in these traits. Hundred seed weight was the only parameter in which additive variance was greater than dominance variance and also showed the highest heritability in all three crosses. Therefore, preference should be given to pure line selection, mass selection and/or progeny selection for improvement of 100-seed weight.