Cultivated lentil is a quantitative long day plant. In-season temperature and daylength varies considerably among three main growing regions, which are northern temperate regions (SK, North Dakota), Mediterranean climates (Turkey, Spain, Morocco), and South Asian (India, Bangladesh, Nepal). Different temperature and daylength among the regions lead to different plant life cycle. In northern temperate regions, sowing is between April to May when days are lengthening and temperatures rising. Adapted germplasm will typically flower in early July, about 1-2 weeks after the summer solstice. In Mediterranean climates, sowing is usually between November to December as days are shortening and temperatures are mild. Flowering of adapted germplasm in these regions is typically delayed until mid-March when days lengthen and temperatures start to rise. In South Asia, the entire plant life cycle occurs during daylengths that are below the threshold daylength for induction of flowering for either Mediterranean or northern temperate adaptation. When grown in Canada, unadapted germplasm typically flowers at inappropriate times and result in yield penalty.

While daylength responses are fairly predictable, the interaction between daylength response and temperature is not. In the project 2a, we hypothesize that there will be variation in response to temperature leading up to flowering. Also, we hypothesize that a number of lines that are adapted to one region will respond correctly to light and temperate in other regions.

Seed of the lentil diversity panel will be increased in Saskatoon and sent to three locations in each macro-environment for field phenotyping for a minimum of two seasons. Phenotypic data will be collected from northern temperate locations and where possible, from the other locations. Genetic control and heritability of the traits that are segregating will be determined through the statistical analysis.

Result of AGILE Activity 2 will deliver comprehensive dataset of phenological data from contrasting environments for 350 diverse lentil lines, as well as to determine the genetic control of key phenological traits for lentil. Additionally, phenotypic data can be used for marker association analyses in other research experiments.