Phenotypic Variability of White Lupine (Lupinus albus L.) Germplasm

Abstract

Collecting, exploring and using a suitable, genetically diverse source material with different ecological-geographical origin is a determining prerequisite for the breeding success. The present study was conducted during the 2014-2016 period at the Institute of Forage Crops (Pleven, Bulgaria) with 23 cultivars of white lupine originating Poland, Russia and Ukraine. It was found a significant genetic diversity among the studied cultivars, which was a good prerequisite for starting a breeding program within the crop. The most favorable combination of a high seed productivity and crude protein content had cultivars ‘Tel Keram’, ‘Pflugs Ultra’, ‘WAT’, ‘Solnechnii’ and ‘Pink Mutant’, whose plants were also characterized by a mass of 1,000 seeds between 15 and 21 g. Genetically, the most distant from each other were ‘Bezimenii 1’ and ‘Pflugs Ultra’ compared to ‘Termis Mestnii’ and ‘Solnechnii’ as well as to ‘Tel Keram’. These cultivars are suitable as genitors for the development of high-yielding white lupine cultivars. Studied traits of pod length, number of seeds in a pod and seeds per plant showed a high positive phenotypic and genotypic correlation with the seed productivity in white lupine. Regarding productivity, it can be rely upon the mass of 1,000 seeds, plant height and number of seeds per plant due to their high total effect on the seed weight per plant.