Screening of White Lupin Accessions for Morphological and Yield Traits

Evaluation studies for landraces of white lupin (Lupinus albus), collected in Egypt, were carried out in field experiments during 1998/99 at Ismailia and 1997/98 and 1998/99 at New Valley along with locally developed cultivars Giza 1 and Giza 2, and exotic germplasm for seed yield and major morphological characteristics. These two locations represent different soil types and climatic conditions in Egypt. The cultivars showed low differences of growth and development, and also variation in days to maturity, plant height and number of branches per plant. There were significant differences between cultivars in yield components in both locations. The results further suggest that the local landrace germplasm may be an important source of alleles for shortening the vegetative period, reducing plant height, as well as for improving some yield components. These germplasm lines will be useful as genetic stocks for exploitation in a breeding programme.