ABSTRACT:
Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) is the third most important essential legume in Morocco, valued for its nutritional benefits and its role in sustainable agriculture. The crop's productivity remains low, with average yields below 1.5 t/ha, and it suffers from numerous biotic and abiotic factors due to major challenges, including the use of poorly performing varieties, difficult climatic conditions (recurrent drought and high temperatures), soil degradation and fungal disease pressure. High-yielding cultivars with improved characteristics are needed to increase lentil production and profitability. This study focuses on the agro-morphological characterization of 17 lentil varieties: ABDA (L 593153-16), BEKRIA, BICHETTE (ILL 5562), HAMRIA (FLIP 87-48L), CHAKKOUF, EXTRA, L 24, ABOA, JAMAAT SHAIM, V10, V11, V12, V13, BELUGA, LAIRD (ILL 4349, PI 471916), ANICIA, CLARA. Cultivated during 3 years 2023-2024-2025 after small-scale experiments in the Mnasra region of Morocco, in order to evaluate their agronomic performance, morphological traits and adaptation to local pedoclimatic conditions. The parameters measured in our field experiments are morphological parameters of plant growth and development, as well as production parameters including emergence time, vegetative phase duration, plant height, branching, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, 100-seed weight, seed yield and disease resistance. The aim is to identify the best-performing varieties that are best adapted to local soil and climate conditions, in order to provide farmers and policy-makers with recommendations for improving lentil productivity in Morocco. The results of our study show great variability between varieties, with Chakkouf and Jamaat Shaim, Beluga, Anicia lentils standing out for their rapid emergence, short vegetative phase and high yield, they also showed field resistance to Ascochyta blight and rust over the 3 years of evaluation in our repeated yield trials in the Mnasra region. While other varieties such as Bekria are less adapted due to their sensitivity to drought... our study underlines the importance of selecting adapted varieties to improve the productivity and resilience of lentil crops in Morocco.