Conventional and Biotechnological Approaches for Targeted Trait Improvement in Lentil

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is an important cool-season food crop grown in various parts of the world as it offers ecological, environmental value and nutritional security. To sustain food production for future generations, lentil cultivars should possess tolerance/resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Existing cultivars have a narrow genetic base and are primarily bred for traits which are yield centric. Therefore, to improve these cultivars, useful untapped genes of interest need to be incorporated from wild and distant cultivated backgrounds. This chapter highlights significant work done through lentil pre-breeding for important traits (agronomical, seed quality, tolerance to heat, drought, cold and frost and resistance to various fungal disease). These traits have either been incorporated or still need to be introduced into existing or new lentil cultivars.