Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Hajar Ashoordan ¹
• Massoud Dehdari ²
• Asad Masoumiasl ³
• Rahmatollah Karimizadeh ⁴

¹ Graduate student of plant breeding, University of Yasouj, Yasouj, Iran

² Department of Agronomy and Plant breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Yasouj, Yasouj, Iran

³ Faculty of Agriculture, University of Yasouj, Yasouj, Iran

⁴ Dryland Agricultural Research Inistitute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Gachsaran, Iran

Abstract

Objective: Cold stress causes significant irreversible damage to crops like lentils (Lens culinaris Medic), an important legume. Limited information exists on utilizing somaclonal variation to enhance cold tolerance in lentils. This study aimed to evaluate cold tolerance in lentil seedlings regenerated from in vitro culture.
Method: Seven lentil genotypes were exposed to two temperature regimes: 5°C (cold stress) and 25°C (control). The experiment, conducted at Yasouj Agricultural Faculty in 2021, followed a completely randomized design with three replications. Ten days after treatment, morphological and physiological traits—including root length, root fresh and dry weight, shoot height, shoot fresh and dry weight, carotenoid and chlorophyll contents, electrolyte leakage, and total soluble sugar—were measured.
Results: Variance analysis revealed significant effects of temperature on all traits, genotype effects on all traits except root length, and genotype-by-temperature interactions on most traits. Under cold stress (5°C), genotype 09S 83259-14ILL6994/ILL5480 showed superior performance in most traits. Multivariate analysis categorized ILL 7979 and 09S 83259-14ILL6994/ILL5480 as the most cold-tolerant genotypes, while Gachsaran, Kimia, ACC 5588 ILL116, and ACC 4605 were identified as sensitive. Electrolyte leakage exhibited the highest stress sensitivity (stress index of 0.53), indicating susceptibility to cold. Variability coefficients indicated considerable diversity, especially for shoot-related traits. Heritability was highest for total soluble sugar (97.81%) and electrolyte leakage (97.70%), with the lowest for root length (88.02%).
Conclusions: The study revealed significant genetic diversity in cold tolerance among tissue-cultured lentil seedlings. The high genetic variance suggests that selection for cold tolerance based on these traits will be effective. Traits like electrolyte leakage and shoot biomass could serve as reliable selection criteria in breeding programs aimed at improving cold tolerance in lentils.

Keywords

• Electrolyte leakage
• Factor analysis
• Somaclonal variation
• Tissue culture