TO THE PROBLEM OF BIOFORTIFICATION AND DIVERSIFICATION OF LENTIL CROP Kondykov I.V. , Candidate of Agricultural Sciences

UDC 635.658:631.527:581.19 TO THE PROBLEM OF BIOFORTIFICATION AND DIVERSIFICATION OF LENTIL CROP Kondykov I.V., Candidate of Agricultural Sciences Ikonnikov A.V., Research Assistant All-Russian Research Institute of Legumes and Groat Crops, Orel City, Russia E-mail: info@vniizbk.ru Chuvasheva E.S., Candidate of Biological Sciences Orel State University, Orel City, Russia Kirsanova E.V., Candidate of Agricultural Sciences Dmitrieva E.A., Post-graduate Student Amelin A.V., Doctor of Agricultural Sciences Orel State Agrarian University, Orel City, Russia ABSTRACT In the review the lentil role as the most valuable pulse crop for consumers is shown. It is noticed that biochemical structure of lentil grain leads it to the class of irreplaceable dietary products used both in daily ration, and in medical, children's and vegetarian food. Directions of biofortification and consumer diversification of crop are specified. KEY WORDS Lentil; Crop; Biochemical structure; Biofortification; Consumer diversification; Breeding; Varieties. Lentil (Lens culinaris subsp. сulinaris) is one of the most popular grain legumes, demand or it is continuously increasing. The increase of lentil consumption is considerably ahead of the relative growth of the world population. In 1960-s lentil world production corresponded to about 1 mln tons at the population of 3,3 bln people. Now 6,7 bln people live on the Earth who produce and consume about 4 mln tons of lentil. This kind of condition is not typical for the majority of other leguminous crops. It is supposed that by 2030 lentil consumption will be doubled [55]. The main lentil producers are Canada (1947 thous. t), India (900 thous. t) and Turkey (447,4 thous. t) [36]. Russia being at the beginning of the ХХ century the world leader in this crop grain production, in 2010 occupied only 17th place and mostly due to the cultivated area reduction. Their maximum decrease was marked in the last ten years of the ХХ century. At present lentil sowing in the country occupy altogether 6…11 thous. ha. The main reason of the real situation is low economic efficiency of production. That is why it is necessary to understand what market potential the crop has and what perspectives are to be realized in the conditions of Russia Agro Industrial Complex. This article is devoted to the reference data analysis and the results of research of lentil grain performance in the aspect of its biofortification and diversification. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Lentil is one of the first domesticated crops. Its cultivation is connected with the beginning of so called “agricultural revolution”, took place about 10000 years ago in the Middle East [33]. The most ancient findings of the wild growing lentil remnants are found in settlement Mureybit (Syria), domesticated forms are found in the Neolithic age layers in Turkey [37]. Alo together with colleagues [29] on the basis of PCR-analysis of 308 species from collection ICARDA, presenting all seven taxons of family Lens, determined that the factual area of domesticated lentil appearance can be South Turkey. The maximum variety of wild growing species and primitive domesticated forms are typical for these territories. They