Phenotyping data from: Genetics of phenological development and implications for seed yield in lentil

Using a historic collection of Australian lentil varieties released between 1988 and 2019, we show that genetic gain in yield (29 kg ha-1 yr-1) associates with faster reproductive development. A focus on five loci related to reproductive development, the lentil ELF3 ortholog Sn, two loci linked to clusters of lentil FT orthologs and two loci without proposed candidates in chromosomes 2 and 5, revealed the potential for introducing novel early flowering alleles into current breeding material for further phenological diversity with potential implications for yield.

Methods
We phenotyped 26 Australian lentil lines representing 32 years of breeding and selection for yield in 12 environments resulting from the combination of two seasons, three locations in South Australia, Western Australia, and Queensland, and two sowing dates. Rainfall is winter dominant in South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA) and summer dominant in Queensland (Qld); locations were Kapunda, SA (-34.40, 138.85) and Merredin, WA (-31.49, 118.27) in both seasons, and Gatton, Qld (-27.54, 152.33) in 2021 and Forest Hill, Qld in 2022 (-27.57, 152.36). Sowing dates were 5th May and 29th June 2021 at Kapunda; 19th of May and 25th of June 2021 at Merredin; 24th May and 22nd June 2021 at Gatton; 10th May and 15th July 2022 at Kapunda, 19th of May and 23rd of June 2022 at Merredin and 16th June and 20th July 2022 at Forest Hill. Treatments were arranged in a randomised complete block design with three replicates.

Phenology was monitored 2–3 times per week in the centre rows of each plot to visually determine the timing of 50% of plants reaching: emergence, flowering, podding, end of flowering and maturity. Chronological time was converted to thermal time (oCd) based on cumulative daily average temperature minus a base temperature of  0 °C.