INTERAZIONE GENOTIPO-AMBIENTE IN DIVERSI GENOTIPI DI LENTICCHIA: UN FOCUS SUL CONTENUTO DI CARBONIO, IDROGENO E AZOTO.

Lentil represents a valuable crop for the European and Mediterranean environments. Its cultivation and consumption contribute to the transition to a plant-based diet that can generate significant co-benefit for human health and agriculture sustainability. However, there is little information on the genetic stability, variability, and Genotype by Environment interactions for lentil nutrition. In this study, we dissected the genotype, environment, and genotype by environment interaction effect on important nutritional traits like carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, analyzing their variations and related environmental influence. To do this, we selected a population set of 16 domesticated lentil genotypes (Landraces, Cultivar, and Breeding materials) representing a wide range of geographic diversity grown in multi-location field trials. GEI structure was modeled by combining the use of the additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model and the Genotype plus Genotype Environment (GGE) model. We used the AMMI Stability Value(ASV), Mean vs Coefficient of Variation plot, and Weighted Average of Absolute Scores (WAASB) to assess genotypic stability. We observed a significant seasonal effect for hydrogen content where it showed good performance in autumn growing seasons. However, a set of Iranian and Ethiopian landraces consistently showed higher seed nitrogen and hydrogen and good stability across environments. This study is an example of the usefulness of nutritional characterization of legume genetic resources, where new diverse lentil genotypes (mostly landraces) were identified as best performing in different localities, years, and sowing seasons in the Mediterranean environments