VARIATION IN OSMOTIC ADJUSTMENT OF ACCESSIONS OF LENTIL (LENS-CULINARIS MEDIC) IN RESPONSE TO DROUGHT STRESS

The effect of drought stress on the growth of nine accessions of lentil, ILL 5845, ILL 6451, ILL 6788, ILL 6793, ILL 6796, ILL 6439, ILL 6778, Local Masoor and Masoor 18-10 was assessed in a pot experiment, using control and drought cycles. Accessions ILL 6439 and ILL 6451 produced significantly greater biomass, had highest osmotic adjustment, a high wax content, a high leaf resistance, a high relative water-content and high leaf elasticity (DELTA-psi(W)/DELTA-R = gradient of water potential/gradient of relative water content) compared with the other accessions. From this study, it is established that the drought tolerance of the lentil accessions examined here is highly related to their capacity for osmotic adjustment. Thus osmotic adjustment could be a selection criterion for breeding for drought resistance in lentil. The detection of variation in the response to drought stress in a very small sample of lentil accessions examined here suggests that the advancement of drought tolerance through selection and breeding methods is possible.