Effectiveness of Single-Plant Selection at Low Density under Organic Environment: A Field Study with Lentil.

Cultivation of well-adapted varieties under organic environment requires effective breeding schemes. A field study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of single-plant selection at low density under organic environment. Single plants originating from 20 lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) varieties along with their seed composite were grown in an R-21 honeycomb design under two plant densities for two consecutive growing seasons at two sites. Sowing plant densities (PDs) were 12.8 plants m-2 (PD I) and 3.2 plants m-2 (PD II). Selection was applied in each environment (site per growing season) and each plant density and the top 50 plants were selected. Varieties were also evaluated in plot trials under farmer's conditions and the entry ranking across four environments was considered as the proven entry ranking. Effective selection (ES) was measured by the number of the 50 selected plants originating from the top five varieties, while non-ES was measured by the number of the 50 selected plants originating from the five-lowest yielders. It was observed that the experimental case that indicated higher ES and lower non-ES was PD II. Under PD II, ES ranged from 34 to 74% from environment to environment and from 46 to 62% across two environments, while non-ES ranged from 0 to 12% from environment to environment and from 3 to 12% across two environments, It was concluded that single-plant selection at low plant density could be applied in breeding programs for organic agriculture with considerable effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]