Investigation of some morphological traits in studiedlentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) genotypes grown with foliarapplication of nanosized ferric oxide

Interest in growing lentil {Lens culinaris Medik.) is increasing due to its potential returns relativeto other legume crops in semi-arid areas. An experiment was conducted to examine the importanttraits on lentil under application of nano-fertilizer by using eight genotypes with application ofthe biplot technique in visualizing research data. Nano-iron oxide (2 g L1) was utilized as foliarspray during vegetative and reproductive stages. The study revealed that genotype by trait (GT)biplot can graphically display the interrelationships among traits and facilitate visual comparisonof genotypes. The first two principal components (PCI and PC2) accounted for 76% of the totalvariation. The polygon view of GT biplot suggested four sections for the lentil genotypes as well astraits. The vertex genotypes G1 had plant height, number of branches per plant, number of pods perplant, 100-grains weight and grain yield traits. The most prominent relation were: a strong positiveassociation among biological yield, number ofbranches per plant, number ofpods per plant, grainsyield and plant height as indicated by the small obtuse angles between their vectors. The traits relationship in the semi-arid was highly variable, and grain yield improvement can be achieved byselecting for number ofpods per plant, 100-grains weight. We suggest that the GT biplot be usedjointly to better understand and more fully explore interaction pattern data.