Lentil (Lens
culinaris Medikus subsp. culinaris) is an important pulse crop
predominantly grown in South and West Asia, North and East Africa, North
America and Australia. It is a major source of protein and other nutrients in
the daily diet of the poor, and its straw is a valuable animal feed. The
pioneer work on Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) at The International Center
for Agricultural research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) has demonstrated that a
farmer-participatory approach is more effective in exploiting specific
adaptation, maintaining biodiversity, selecting according to farmer's and
user's choice, promoting farmer-to-farmer seed diffusion, fast adoption and
rapid impact at farm level. Farmer participatory varietal selection approach
(PVS) in being implemented in Syria, Yemen, Eritrea, Nepal, Bangladesh and
Jordan. In Syria, through two cycles of selection (Farmer Initial Trial &
Farmer Advanced Trial), in 12 villages, farmers selected 4 small-seeded red
lentils from 50 genotypes and 3 large-seeded green lentils from 30 genotypes.
Medium maturity, tall and erect plant type and several seed traits were given
due importance by farmers during selection, and the lines out-yielded farmer's
locals by 18-59% across cycles of selection. In Yemen, in three contrasting
locations, out of 50 genotypes, 5 were selected by farmers with a yield range
of 1.4 to 2.2 t/ha and three of them were breeding lines. From 75 lentil lines,
ILL 7978 and ILL 10013 were selected by Ertirean farmers. Nepalese farmers
selected ILL 7164 and ILL 8006 for future release. A lentil line, X95S-136 with
high level of resistance against rust and Stemphylium blight, wide adaptation
and high yield (2.4 t/ha) selected by farmers in four contrasting environments
is submitted for release. The results suggest that farmers can effectively
select promising and preferred genotypes, which is the ultimate goal of formal
plant breeding.