Adapting lentil to different environments

Trabajo presentado en el 9th International Conference on Legume Genetics and Genomics (IGLCC 2019), delebrado en Dijon del 13 al 17 de mayo de 2019.Lentil has three primary macro-environmental adaptation groups, determined by photoperiod and temperature: spring-sown northern temperate (e.g. Northern Great Plains of Canada and USA), fall-sown mediterranean (e.g. Turkey, Spain, Morocco) and post-rainy season, sub-tropical savannah (e.g. South Asia). Genotypes from one region often fail to perform in the others due to problems related to phenology. Of key importance is the effect of local environment, such as daylength and temperature, on the plant’s ability to flower and set seeds. Breeders are reluctant to use un-adapted germplasm from other regions as parents in crosses, because this strategy requires additional time and resources to reduce the influence of the genes related to poor adaptation. To better understand the genetics underlying adaptation in a field environment, we grew a panel of 324 diverse lines in 9 locations around the globe for a total of 19 site-years. Genotypes flowered quickly in Saskatchewan, very slowly in the Mediterranean region, and in South Asia, genotypes from Canada and other regions with long-days did not flower or did not set seed due to the extreme temperatures at the end of the usual growing season. Interactions with both temperature and photoperiod were evident but not all genotypes responded similarly. Some were early to flower everywhere, some were late everywhere and there were those that responded differently depending on the location. We genotyped all lines using an exome capture array [1], resulting in over 250K markers. Using a GWAS approach we were able to identify several regions of the genome that were associated with flowering time at each of the locations. Some were unique to short-day environments and others to long-day. Candidate flowering time-associated genes were identified and are being tested in bi-parental and NAM populations to confirm their utility for breeding programs.Peer reviewe