Pennell

Wednesday, 30 September 2009 13:20

Pennell is a large-seeded yellow-cotyledon lentil developed by the USDA-ARS in cooperation with the Washington Agricultural Research Center, Pullman, WA, the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, Moscow, ID, the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, Fargo, ND, and released in 2003. Pennell has absence of seed coat mottling, upright plant habit and high yield. Pennell, selection LC460197, originated as an F6 selection from the cross of LC660194/‘Brewer’ made in 1990 to combine large seed size with upright plant habit. LC6600194 is a selection from PI 299321 made in 1986 for large seed size and upright plant habit. Brewer was released in 1984 as a large-seeded, yellow-cotyledon, high-yielding cultivar (Muehlbauer, 1987). The cross was advanced to the F6 by the bulk method, single plant selections were made in 1993, and grown in progeny rows in 1994. The F7 progeny-row that led to the development of Pennell was selected in 1994. Preliminary screening tests for yield and plant traits were conducted in 1995 and Pennell was entered in the preliminary yield trial at Pullman in 1996. Pennell was evaluated in advanced yield trials at 15 site-years from 1997 to 2000. The average yield of Pennell was comparable to Brewer; however, Pennell yielded 9.1% higher than ‘Mason’ (Muehlbauer, 2002), the comparable cultivar for seed size. Compared with Brewer, Pennell was 1cm taller, flowered an average of 2 d later, and matured 1 day later. Plants of Pennell are strongly branched at the base, which imparts a bushy structure that enables the canopy to remain somewhat erect during the growing season. Pennell has uniform large seeds (100 seeds weigh an average of 6.6 g compared with 6.0 g for Brewer and 6.5 g for Mason). Pennell seeds have yellow cotyledons and its light green seed coats lack mottling. These seed features should appeal to markets in the USA and internationally. Cooking time tests in 2000 and 2001 indicated that both Pennell and Brewer required 21 min for cooking. Pennell had lower scores for virus infection, mainly pea enation mosaic, when compared with Mason. Scores for resistance to Aphanomyces root rot (caused by Aphanomyces eutieches Drechs.) were similar to those for Mason and Brewer. Go to table of lentil varieties