Evaluation and path analysis for yield and its components in some genotypes of lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) under Upper Egypt condition

Abstract
Evaluation of lentil genotypes is important to choose selection criteria for improvement of seed yield. This investigation was conducted at El-Mataana, Agricultural Research Station, Luxor governorate, ARC, Egypt to assess the genotypic variability, correlation and path analysis of some lentil genotypes. Twenty-two genotypes of lentil including one as the check variety (Giza 9) were tested in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates for three years; 2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. For each season and over seasons, significant (p˂0.01) differences were observed among genotypes for all the studied traits; days to flowering, plant height, no of pods plant-1, 100-seed weight, seed yield plant-1 and harvest index. Also, the differences among years and years × genotypes interactions were significant (p˂0.01) for all the studied traits. The combined mean demonstrated that the genotypes X2012-S-291 and Flip 2003-37L produced the highest seed yield plant-1, no of pods plant-1, 100-seed weight and earliest compared to the check variety (Giza 9). These genotypes were promising and could be used as new lentil cultivars i.e. parents in breeding programmes to produce high-yielding varieties for Upper Egypt. Estimates of broad sense heritability were high for all traits under investigation except seed yield plant-1 was moderate.Seed yield plant-1 was correlated positively with all the studied traits except days to 50% flowering. Path analysis illustrated that 100-seed weight and number of pods plant-1 were the two important traits for seed yield improvement.