GERMPLASM EVALUATION AND CORRELATION STUDIES ON ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT TRAITS IN LENTIL (Lens culinaris Medic) UNDER RAINFED CONDITIONS OF POTHWAR

To evaluate lentil germplasm for important yield attributes and correlate them to select the genotypes for breeding programme, Thirty one lentil genotypes including one local chech variety were used in the study. The exotic genotype ILL 10035 with the yield of 2700 kg ha-1 was comparable with the local check (Masoor-93) that gave 1088 kg ha-1 seed yield. There was a high variation among the genotypes for the traits used for study to evaluate the genotypes. The plant height and pods per plant were significantly (P < 0.05) correlated with the seed yield. Viral disease infection was highly negatively correlated with the seed yield. This association of the traits may be used in the breeding program to exploit the yield potential for enhancing the productivity of the lentil crop and to develop high yielding varieties with ease and target oriented research work.