Genetic and Genomic Resources of Grain Legume Improvement 7. Lentil

Lentil (Lens culinaris spp. culinaris) has a long history associated with the early civilizations 11,000 BP in southwestern Asia. The progenitor taxon is Lens culinaris spp. orientalis. The primary source of germplasm for lentil crop improvement is from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria, and other ex situ national collections. Typical of many crop species, lentil experienced a genetic bottleneck during domestication. Fortunately, many biotic and abiotic stress resistances have been identified and accessed from the wild Lens taxon held ex situ to expand the genetic diversity available for crop improvement. Lentil crop wild relatives (CWR) represent