RESUMEN
PURPOSE: Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.), being a self-pollinated crop with narrow genetic base, is an important target crop for mutation breeding experiments. The purpose of the investigation was to create, select and characterize unique mutations in inflorescence traits that have strong impact on lentil yield and yield stability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Healthy and uniform seeds (moisture 11.0%) of Lens culinaris Medik. cultivar Pant L 406 were irradiated with 100, 200, 300 and 400 Gy of gamma rays. The mutagenized populations were maintained up to mutant generation third (M3) to screen for stable mutations in the inflorescence architecture of the lentil. The selected mutant mp 'Multipodding' trait, i.e. multiple pods per peduncle, was morphologically characterized and quantified in subsequent mutant generation fourth (M4). RESULTS: The morphological characterization of the 'multipodding' mutant (mp) revealed substantial morphological mutations were induced by the treatment of gamma rays. The estimation of yield per plant (g) between the mutant (mp) and parent cultivar Pant L 406 showed non-significant variation due to significant reduction in seed weight. CONCLUSIONS: The novel 'multipodding' (mp) mutant induced in the present study can play a key role in understanding the genetic network controlling legume inflorescence architecture and in genomics-assisted breeding for development of elite lentil cultivars.