Capturing hybrid vigor for lentil breeding
- Publisher:
- WILEY
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Crop Science, 2022, 62, (5), pp. 1787-1796
- Issue Date:
- 2022-09-01
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Conventional breeding has produced low levels of yield increase in lentils (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris Medik.) in recent decades. As hybrids have led to large increases in yield in other crops, we examined the possibility of using hybrids in lentils. In 52 hybrids between Australian commercial cultivars and lines from a global collection of cultivated and wild accessions, we found 15 of the hybrids had seed yield hybrid vigor, with better parent heterosis (BPH) gains ranging from 10.4 to 125%. Flowering time, seed size, cotyledon color, and branch number were important but not critical for the level of hybrid vigor in seed yield. Plant height at 28 days post sowing (dps) could be an indicator of seed yield vigor of hybrids grown in glasshouse conditions. In the absence of male sterile lines in lentils, we used high-yielding hybrid combinations in a program of repeated selfing and selection to produce stable, high-yielding lines (Hybrid Mimics) with grain yields similar to the F1 hybrids, avoiding the limitation of the hybrid advantage to the F1 generation. Seed yield increased in successive generations (F3–F5); yields of the F4 plants were close to that of the F1 hybrid. Our results indicate that there is potential for hybrid seed yield vigor in lentil to be accessed through hybrid mimic selection. This is a breeding method not dependent on male sterility that can be initiated with a low number of hand-pollinated hybrids. Hybrid mimic breeding may be applicable to a wide range of crops.
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