The potential for genetic biofortification of U.S.-grown lentils ( Lens culinaris L.) with bioavailable folate has not been widely studied. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the folate concentration of 10 commercial lentil cultivars grown in Minot and McLean counties, North Dakota, USA, in 2010 and 2011, (2) to determine the genotype (G) × environmental (E) interactions for folate concentration in lentil cultivars, and (3) to compare the folate concentration of other pulses [field peas ( Pisum sativum L.) and chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.)] grown in the United States. Folate concentration in lentil cultivars ranged from 216 to 290 μg/100 g with a mean of 255 μg/100 g. In addition, lentil showed higher folate concentration compared to chickpea (42-125 μg/100 g), yellow field pea (41-55 μg/100 g), and green field pea (50-202 μg/100 g). A 100 g serving of lentils could provide a significant amount of the recommended daily allowance of dietary folates (54-73%) for adults. A significant year × location interaction on lentil folate concentration was observed; this indicates that possible location sourcing may be required for future lentil folate research.

Advancement in the field of genetics and genomics after the discovery of Mendel's laws of inheritance has led to map the genes controlling qualitative and quantitative traits in crop plant species. Mapping of genomic regions controlling the variation of quantitatively inherited traits has become routine after the advent of different types of molecular markers. Recently, the next generation sequencing methods have accelerated the research on QTL analysis. These efforts have led to the identification of more closely linked molecular markers with gene/QTLs and also identified markers even within gene/QTL controlling the trait of interest. Efforts have also been made towards cloning gene/QTLs or identification of potential candidate genes responsible for a trait. Further new concepts like crop QTLome and QTL prioritization have accelerated precise application of QTLs for genetic improvement of complex traits. In the past years, efforts have also been made in exploitation of a number of QTL for improving grain yield or other agronomic traits in various crops through markers assisted selection leading to cultivation of these improved varieties at farmers' field. In present article, we reviewed QTLs from their identification to exploitation in plant breeding programs and also reviewed that how improved cultivars developed through introgression of QTLs have improved the yield productivity in many crops.

Micronutrient deficiency in the human body, popularly known as "hidden hunger", causes many health problems. It presently affects >2 billion people worldwide, especially in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Biofortification of food crop varieties is one way to combat the problem of hidden hunger using conventional plant breeding and transgenic methods. Lentils are rich sources of protein, micronutrients, and vitamins including iron, zinc, selenium, folates, and carotenoids. Lentil genetic resources including germplasm and wild species showed genetic variability for these traits. Studies revealed that a single serving of lentils could provide a significant amount of the recommended daily allowance of micronutrients and vitamins for adults. Therefore, lentils have been identified as a food legume for biofortification, which could provide a whole food solution to the global micronutrient malnutrition. The present review discusses the current ongoing efforts toward genetic biofortification in lentils using classical breeding and molecular marker-assisted approaches.

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Pulses are the main source of protein and minerals in the vegetarian diet. These are primarily cultivated on marginal lands with few inputs in several resource-poor countries of the world, including several in South Asia. Their cultivation in resource-scarce conditions exposes them to various abiotic and biotic stresses, leading to significant yield losses. Furthermore, climate change due to global warming has increased their vulnerability to emerging new insect pests and abiotic stresses that can become even more serious in the coming years. The changing climate scenario has made it more challenging to breed and develop climate-resilient smart pulses. Although pulses are climate smart, as they simultaneously adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, their narrow genetic diversity has always been a major constraint to their improvement for adaptability. However, existing genetic diversity still provides opportunities to exploit novel attributes for developing climate-resilient cultivars. The mining and exploitation of adaptive traits imparting tolerance/resistance to climate-smart pulses can be accelerated further by using cutting-edge approaches of biotechnology such as transgenics, genome editing, and epigenetics. This review discusses various classical and molecular approaches and strategies to exploit adaptive traits for breeding climate-smart pulses.

Genomics‐assisted breeding has become a powerful tool to develop high‐yielding climate‐resilient varieties for adaptation to adverse environmental conditions such as heat and drought stresses. Previously, efforts have been made to develop genomic resources in lentil, leading to the development of many trait‐specific mapping populations, cores and mini‐cores, and single nucleotide polymorphism and simple sequence repeat markers. Molecular markers have been used in genetic diversity analyses and to clarify genetic relationships in lentil. However, availability of cost‐effective next‐generation sequencing and genotyping‐by‐sequencing technologies has provided unprecedented opportunities for advancing genetics research and breeding applications. For instance, it has become possible to assemble the large and complex genome, develop high‐density genetic maps for high‐resolution QTL mapping, and deploy genome‐wide association study in lentil. Furthermore, a range of cost‐effective marker genotyping platforms have been developed. These developments offer ample opportunities to modernize current breeding programs in lentil for accelerating genetic gains. This review discusses the current status and future possibilities of genomics‐assisted breeding to develop and deploy lentil cultivars suitable for changing climatic conditions.

In the present study, 11 lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) genotypes including heat tolerant and heat sensitive genotypes identified after a screening of 334 accessions of lentil for traits imparting heat tolerance, were characterised based on physiological traits and molecular markers. Results showed a higher reduction in pollen viability among sensitive genotypes (up to 52.3%) compared with tolerant genotypes (up to 32.4%) at 43°C. Higher photosynthetic electron transport rate was observed among heat tolerant genotypes and two heat tolerant lentil genotypes, IG 4258 (0.43) and IG 3330 (0.38) were having highest Fv/Fm values. However, membrane stability was significantly higher in only one heat tolerant genotype, ILL 10712, indicating that different mechanisms are involved to control heat tolerance in lentil. The molecular characterisation of lentil genotypes with 70 polymorphic SSR and genic markers resulted into distinct clusters in accordance with their heat stress tolerance. A functional marker ISM11257 (intron spanning marker) amplifying an allele of 205 bp in size was present only among heat tolerant genotypes, and could be further used in a breeding program to identify heat tolerant lentil genotypes. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of heat tolerant lentil cultivars.

Food legumes are the main source of dietary protein for a large part of the world's population, and also play an important role in maintaining soil fertility through nitrogen fixation. However, legume yields and production are often limited by large genotype × environment (G × E) interactions that influence the expression of agronomically important, complex quantitative traits. Consequently, genetic improvement has been slower than expected. Molecular marker technology enables genetic dissection of such complex traits, allowing breeders to identify genomic regions on the chromosome that have main effects or interactive effects. A number of genomic resources have been developed in several legume species during the last two decades, and provide a platform for exploiting marker technology. The present paper reviews the available genomic resources in food legumes: linkage maps, high-throughput sequencing technologies, expression sequence tag (EST) databases, genome sequences, DNA chips, targeting induced local lesions in genomes (TILLING), bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries and others. It also describes how these resources are being used to tag and map genes/quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for domesticated and other agronomically important traits. This information is important to genetic improvement efforts aiming at improving food and nutrition security worldwide.