Identification of lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) germplasm rich in protein and amino acids for utilization in crop improvement

Lentil is a good source of protein, dietary fibre and essential minerals and therefore, has the potential to be used as a staple food crop for eradicating the hidden hunger. Lentil genetic resources including germplasm and wild species possess genetic variability for different agronomic and economic traits which needs to be studied. In the present study, 570 germplasm accessions of lentil were characterized and evaluated for quality traits for over five years. Protein contents were estimated for five years, while amino acid composition was assessed in seeds harvested during the year 2015-16. Significant variation for the protein content and amino acids was recorded in the germplasm. Two medium bold seeded germplasm accessions, IC208326 and IC208329 were found promising possessing high percentage of protein contents of 27.4 to 28.5 with 1.5-2.0 times higher content of total aromatic amino acids and methionine. The magnitude of heritability in broad sense for seed protein content was found moderate (31.31%) whereas for some agronomic traits like plant height, days to flowering, no. of pods per plant and 100 seed weight it was high in the range of 66% to 97%. Identification of unique/potential germplasm and the utilization for improvement of lentil is an option in conventional breeding progrmme.