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Book of Abstracts First Legume Society Conference 2013: A Legume Odyssey Novi Sad, Serbia, 9-11 May 2013
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Agronomic evaluation and quality characterization of lentil accessions (Lens culinaris L.)
in a Mediterranean environment
Ignazio Poma, Maria Carola Fiore, Biagio Randazzo, Antonino Davì
Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is an important grain legume cultivated in the Mediterranean region
and used for human nutrition. An extensive differentiation of lentil over millennia has permitted
the evolution of many landraces. These ecotypes often are the result of centuries of selective
choices by local farmers and are characterized by high genetic variability and high adaptation to
different environmental conditions. Presently, lentil is mainly cultivated in marginal areas of
Central and Southern Italy and in Sicily small cultivation has permitted the evolution of local
landraces. An understanding of the genetic relationships and diversity of lentil germplasm, in
relation to landraces collected in traditional cultivation areas of Sicily and from other countries, is
important in attempting to widen the genetic resource in the region. 30 accessions of lentil
obtained from FAO collection and 10 local ecotypes were evaluated for agro-morphologicalqualitative
traits in internal hilly environment of Sicily. A wide range of diversity of almost all of
detected traits was recorded for the lentil accessions. Some accessions were characterized by a
good adaptation to the semi-arid environment of internal environment of Sicily as shown by the
comparison of its yield performance with that of populations native to Sicily or to other
countries. The study of agronomic important traits, as plant height, showed less variability, even
though some accessions could be used to adapt the crop to modern production techniques such
as mechanical harvesting. The evaluation of this collection has shown appreciable results that
could foster future breeding programmes.
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