Registration of ‘Ozbek’ Lentil

16 Journal of Plant Registrations, Vol. 2, No. 1, January 2008 ‘O zbek’ lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) (Reg. No. CV-31, PI 635040 was jointly developed by the Central Research Institute for Field Crops (CRIFC), Ankara, Turkey, and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria. It was released by CRIFC, Ankara, Turkey, in 2001. Ozbek is a medium-seeded, red cotyledon, high-yielding lentil variety with a high level of winter-hardiness, and is recommended for cultivation as a winter crop in Central Anatolia of Turkey. It has been reported that lentil production can be increased signifi cantly by shifting planting from spring to early-spring or fall sowing (Sakar et al., 1988). Thus, one of the major objectives of the ICARDA lentil improvement program is to establish winter lentils in highlands of West Asia and North Africa. As a part of this program ICARDA has strong collaboration with CRIFC, Ankara, Turkey for winter-hardiness research in lentil, and a decentralized strategy is being followed. Scientists from both the institutions participate in joint selection of materials at various stages of breeding cycles in cold-prone sites in Turkey. In 1990, 156 landraces collected from Southeast Anatolia of Turkey were initially evaluated and 5064 single plants were selected. From 1991 to 1996, through a series of testing and evaluation under severe cold conditions in Haymana (1050 masl), Sivas (1350 masl), Konya (1032 masl), and Karaman (1033 masl), a number of homogenous lines were selected for winter-hardiness, high yield potential and other desirable agronomic traits. In assigning CRIFC accession number to these promising lines, Ozbek was given TUR 01661 (AKM 302). Registration of ‘Ozbek’ Lentil