What's a lentil to do but flower?

    Today, superior Canadian lentil cultivars are expected to grow well in our northern growing conditions while being resilient to various abiotic and biotic stresses.  The breeders achieve this by using diverse materials in their crosses, but need to ensure that offspring from these crosses can flower and mature at the right time in Saskatchewan. If we could predict flowering and maturity traits in lentil effectively using genetic markers, we will then be able to devote more valuable resources to evaluating other important traits such as yield, disease resistance and seed quality.

    To develop genetic markers, we are studying a RIL population from a cross between a South Asian line and a Canadian line.  Under Saskatchewan field conditions, this population segregates for days to flowering and other traits related to plant development and maturity. The population has been genotyped and we will identify genetic regions influencing flowering time and maturity traits and turn over markers for these traits to lentil  breeders.