Variation in lentil germplasm for reaction to virus infection

This study was conducted to assess the variation among lentil germplasm for their reaction to natural virus infection and to identify sources of resistance against viruses infecting lentil. Based on field observations and ELISA, a great variation was observed among lentil genotypes for their reaction to natural virus infection. Lentil was infected by pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV), broad bean stain virus (BBSV) and faba bean necrotic yellows virus (FBNYV). PSbMV was the most common virus with 64% of lentil genotypes infected followed by CMV (35%), BBSV (16%), BYMV (14%) and FBNYV (10%). Out of 108 lentil germplasm accessions/breeding lines tested, none of the genotypes was found as highly resistant. However, thirty (64%) and 9 (35%) genotypes were found as resistant and moderately resistant respectively to viral diseases infection. Out of 9 moderately resistant genotypes, four were from Pakistan (99CL-002, 97CL-010, 93CL-005, 11222), four from Syria (FLIP 66-542, FLIP 96-582, ILL-7517, ILL-7537) and one from Canada (ILL-8105). All other lines were susceptible to highly susceptible.