Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) is a protein-rich cool-season food legume with an excellent source of protein, prebiotic carbohydrates, minerals, and vitamins. With climate change, heat, and drought stresses have become more frequent and intense in lentil growing areas with a strong influence on phenology, grain yield, and nutritional quality. This study aimed to assess the impact of heat and drought stresses on phenology, grain yield, and nutritional quality of lentil. For this purpose, 100 lentil genotypes from the global collection were evaluated under normal, heat, and combined heat-drought conditions. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences (p < 0.001) among lentil genotypes for phenological traits, yield components, and grain quality traits. Under no stress conditions, mineral concentrations among lentil genotypes varied from 48 to 109 mg kg−1 for iron (Fe) and from 31 to 65 mg kg−1 for zinc (Zn), while crude protein content ranged from 22.5 to 32.0%. Iron, zinc, and crude protein content were significantly reduced under stress conditions, and the effect of combined heat-drought stress was more severe than heat stress alone. A significant positive correlation was observed between iron and zinc concentrations under both no stress and stress conditions. Based on grain yield, crude protein, and iron and zinc concentrations, lentil genotypes were grouped into three clusters following the hierarchical cluster analysis. Promising lentil genotypes with high micronutrient contents, crude protein, and grain yield with the least effect of heat and drought stress were identified as the potential donors for biofortification in the lentil breeding program.

High temperature during the reproductive stage limits the growth and development of lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus). The reproductive and seed filling periods are the most sensitive to heat stress, resulting in limited yield and nutritional quality. Climate change causes frequent incidents of heat stress for global food crop production. This study aimed to assess the impact of high temperature during the reproductive stage of lentil on grain yield, nutritional value, and cooking quality. Thirty-six lentil genotypes were evaluated under controlled conditions for their high temperature response. Genotypic variation was significant (p < 0.001) for all the traits under study. High temperature-induced conditions reduced protein, iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) concentrations in lentils. Under heat stress conditions, mineral concentrations among lentil genotypes varied from 6.0 to 8.8 mg/100 g for Fe and from 4.9 to 6.6 mg/100 g for Zn. Protein ranged from 21.9 to 24.3 g/100 g. Cooking time was significantly reduced due to high temperature treatment; the range was 3–11 min, while under no stress conditions, cooking time variation was from 5 to 14 min. Phytic acid variation was 0.5–1.2 g/100 g under no stress conditions, while under heat stress conditions, phytic acid ranged from 0.4 to 1.4 g/100 g. All genotypes had highly significant bioavailable Fe and moderately bioavailable Zn under no stress conditions. Whereas under heat stress conditions, Fe and Zn bioavailability was reduced due to increased phytic acid levels. Our results will greatly benefit the development of biofortified lentil cultivars for global breeding programs to generate promising genotypes with low phytic acid and phytic acid/micronutrient ratio to combat micronutrient malnutrition.

High temperature and water deficit are among the major limitations reducing lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) yield in many growing regions. In addition, increasing atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) due to global warming causes a severe challenge by influencing the water balance of the plants, thus also affecting growth and yield. In the present study, we evaluated 20 lentil genotypes under field conditions and controlled environments with the following objectives: (i) to investigate the impact of temperature stress and combined temperature-drought stress on traits related to phenology, grain yield, nutritional quality, and canopy temperature under field conditions, and (ii) to examine the genotypic variability for limited transpiration (TRlim) trait in response to increased VPD under controlled conditions. The field experiment results revealed that high-temperature stress significantly affected all parameters compared to normal conditions. The protein content ranged from 23.4 to 31.9%, while the range of grain zinc and iron content varied from 33.1 to 64.4 and 62.3 to 99.3 mg kg−1, respectively, under normal conditions. The grain protein content, zinc and iron decreased significantly by 15, 14 and 15% under high-temperature stress, respectively. However, the impact was more severe under combined temperature-drought stress with a reduction of 53% in protein content, 18% in zinc and 20% in iron. Grain yield declined significantly by 43% in temperature stress and by 49% in the combined temperature-drought stress. The results from the controlled conditions showed a wide variation in TR among studied lentil genotypes. Nine genotypes displayed TRlim at 2.76 to 3.51 kPa, with the genotypes ILL 7833 and ILL 7835 exhibiting the lowest breakpoint. Genotypes with low breakpoints had the ability to conserve water, allowing it to be used at later stages for increased yield. Our results identified promising genotypes including ILL 7835, ILL 7814 and ILL 4605 (Bakria) that could be of great interest in breeding for high yields, protein and micronutrient contents under high-temperature and drought stress. In addition, it was found that the TRlim trait has the potential to select for increased lentil yields under field water-deficit environments.

Broomrape weeds (Orobanche spp.) are root holoparasitic plants that cause serious damage to a range of legume crops in the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan African regions. Grain yield of cultivated species of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is almost negligible at the highest infection severity of Orobanche. Crop wild relatives (CWRs) have emerged as a novel source for many traits in diverse crops. Lathyrus is one of the largest genera with more than 160 species. In the present study, we screened 285 accessions representing 13 Lathyrus species for their reactions against two common broomrape species, Orobanche crenata Forsk. and O. foetida Poir, under field conditions. Screening at hot spots in Morocco and Tunisia resulted in the identification of resistant accessions of wild Lathyrus species against the parasitic weed. The level of resistance to O. foetida was higher among wild species compared with O. crenata. Field results showed complete resistance for O. crenata and O. foetida by L. articulatus L. and moderate resistance by L. aphaca L. and L. ochrus (L.) DC. Resistance to O. crenata in L. sativus accessions was validated in a pot experiment under controlled conditions. Two accessions-namely, IG64782 and IG65197-showed complete resistance to O. crenata. A moderately resistant accession, IG116989, that revealed low infestation in the field showed high susceptibility in pot experiment. The results indicated that the resistance against O. crenata and O. foetida was associated with slow development of the established tubercles and low induction of parasite germination. Abbreviations: β-ODAP, β-N-oxalyl-l-α,β diamino propionic acid; CWR, crop wild relative; EODW, dry weight of emerged Orobanche per plant; EON, emerged Orobanche spikes per plant; ICARDA, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas; PI, parasitism index; MR, moderately resistant. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.