In this, the first year of the project, although some difficulties were encountered, progress has been made with all project objectives.

Drought stress studies were completed at Khumultar and Nepalgunj but the detailed and relatively expensive field trials needed for the 'utera' (relay sowing) research could not be completed due to late receipt of funds.

There has been outstanding progress in terms of screening for Fusarium wilt resistance. At ICARDA more than 2000 accessions were tested. Some, like ILL 7167, showed strong resistance. The international nursery was established in Nepal at two sites. At Khumultar in 2002 over 30 varieties showed resistance whilst one, ILL 6256, was highly resistant. ILL 8188 and ILL 7892 were disease free in the ICARDA nursery trial at Nepalgunj. This screening will be more definitive next year as the newly established 'wilt sick' plots in Nepal increase in inoculum levels and in uniformity.

Adaptation to acid soil is an important characteristic for some areas of Nepal and involves both the lentils and associated rhizobia. Rhizobial strains RRI 590 and RRI 607 selected from collections made by Dr Jo Slattery in Nepal provide a new source of acid tolerance.

The G x E study is in its second year at Australian sites (2 in Victoria and 1 in WA) and will be continued with again 2 sites in Nepal. Data so far are inconclusive but indicate little cross adaptation of Australian selected cultivars in Nepal, although one line performed well in Rampur, Nepal and in Merredin, WA. Disease in Nepal and the Victorian sites was a factor that influenced the results and further effort will be devoted in the coming seasons to limit disease incidence and the consequent bias of results.

Whilst previous seed priming research in project PN9436 has resulted in practical recommendations for growers, the most recent study indicates the need to ensure that primed seed is sown into moist soils or the advantages may be lost or yield even reduced.

Low toxin (ODAP) lines of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) selected at CLIMA have been seed increased in Nepal and Carnarvon, WA. They will be available for field evaluation in Nepal in the 2002/2003 growing season.

Training of Nepali and Bangladesh scientists is underway. Plant pathologist Ms Sharada Joshi underwent a highly successful visit to ICARDA for detailed studies of Fusarium wilt. Ms Renuka Shrestha is to undergo studies of drought stress in lentils for a Ph D supported by a Allwright Fellowship with assistance for operating costs from the current project.

Plans for current and future seed increase and release of best performing lentils were put in place by Mr R. Neupane in consultation with Dr A. Sarker of ICARDA. This process will be augmented with specific project funds in 2002/2003.The ICARDA lines selected in Nepal: ILL 6829, ILL 7537, ILL 7979 and ILL 7164 could constitute the next batch for future seed increase and farmer participation.

Significant progress has been made in most of the 7 project objectives

1. Waterlogging tolerance
Compared to grass pea, all the lentil cultivars under evaluation performed poorly when subject to excess soil moisture in the flowering period at Nepalgunj. Previously reported differences (J Clements) in seedling tolerance did not hold for more mature plants but the interaction with root and leaf diseases may have confounded any effect of differential tolerance to poor drainage.

2. Root diseases and acid soils
Useful resistance to the wilt-root disease syndrome has been defined in 9 selections from 110 screened in 2002/3. These selections represent a significant improvement in the resistance level of current Nepali and Australian cultivars. The fungal disease Stemphyllium emerged as a major threat and is one which is being assessed in conjunction with the root rot screening trials

Dr Jo Slattery has prepared 4 acid tolerant Rhizobial isolates: RR510. 590, 607, 613 for trial in Nepal in the forthcoming 2003/04 season A mapping exercise (J Berger and Renuka Shrestha) has defined the extensive range of acid soils where a combination of rhizobial strain with best adapted genotypes is a likely boost for lentil production.

3. Genotype x Environment interactions
These will need a successful final year for conclusive results following elimination of sites due to drought in Australia in 2002 and flooding at the Nepalgunj site in Nepal. It is apparent so far:
a) Ascochyta in Australia severely affected many sub-continent genotypes.
b) 'Australian' selections perform poorly in Nepal as well as being highly susceptible to Stemphyllium
c) Early phenology so far showed no significant effects compared to the best local cultivars even at the low rainfall site at Merredin in WA

4. Seed priming
Seed priming technology research conducted by NARC and CLIMA has been one of the successes of the ACIAR project. It has now resulted in NARC framing a recommendation for its use by growers. The data is in line with Indian experience with similar or greater increases in some trials (up to 43%) have been recorded by NARC.

5. Grasspea selections.
Though lentil is very much the favored crop in Nepal because of ease of export and the prices the farmers receive in the market place, it is however by no means the species ideally adapted to the farming systems on account of the lentil's susceptibility to waterlogging and diseases. Low ODAP early maturing grasspea lines could well make an impact in Nepal. The low ODAP line, 20 B, developed by Prof K Siddique and Dr C Hanbury grew well in a restricted sowing in Nepal but has yet to be assessed in larger plots. It is however later flowering (ca 10 days) than local varieties. This may be a disadvantage in the shorter seasons of the Terai. Seed increase has been fast tracked in Western Australia and will be available for the 2003/04 season in Nepal.

6. Training
Lentil breeder Mr. N K Yadav attended the 12th Australian Plant Breeding conference in Perth and an associated Plant Breeding Master Class conducted by Canadian plant breeder Dr D Falk.

The conference in Kathmandu focused on lentil and grasspea and drew on the research and practical experience of delegates from Nepal, Australia, ICARDA, India, Bangladesh as well as ICRISAT and APAARI. Some 50 delegates attended. A set of abstracts was provided to the delegates prior to the conference. The conference was opened by Director of NARC, Mr. R P Sapkota in the presence of local press. This ensured very good publicity for the ACIAR contribution. A full set of the conference papers is to be compiled into a 'Proceedings' publication by ICARDA.

A training initiative on statistical analysis was held at immediately after the post conference field tour to Rampur and Nepalgunj. Conducted by Dr Jens Berger, CLIMA, and Ms Jane Speijers of the Western Australian Department of Agriculture at Lumle in the Mid-hills, the workshop was attended by 21 delegates.

7. Extension systems
Farmer participation in field trials and seed increase is strongly encouraged by NARC and ICARDA collaborator Dr Ashutosh Sarker. Farmer participation is in fact very necessary given the limited size and resources of the NARC Research Centres. Importantly it gives growers immediate access to new varieties and technologies. In the Nepalgunj region alone single replication yield trials were sown at 10 farmer sites - each with 10 lentil lines. The villages also undertake seed increase. At the village of Betahani this was outstanding. ILL 7723 with improved seed size and some Stemphyllium resistance has consistently out yielded Simal in the farmer participatory trials in the Nepalgunj area. ILL7723 is the chosen candidate for fast tracking release via the system.

Year 3 (01/07/2003-30/06/2004)
A good season in Australian in 2003 and in Nepal 2003-04 will see the completion of the GxE analysis with a three-year set of data from seven sites. The poor performance of Australian adapted Cumra was evident. Of special importance to the mid hills region were the high yields of ILL6829 and ILL7537, which mirrored the earlier results. Every effort should be made to fast track their release.
Farmer participation has helped in developing systems for rapid uptake of new cultivars. Seed has been provided at low cost to farmers for on farm evaluation. The system employed to further the release of ILL7723 for large scale plantings in 2004-05 has also seen the approval for the same process to apply to ILL2580 a line broadly adapted throughout the Terai and successful particularly in the relay rice system. Other promising lines include ILL7982 (with wilt and Stemphyllium resistance) and ILL6829 (for the mid hill). These require additional farmer exposure prior to release.
In terms of community Impact, the project should directly result in the release of a new cultivar of lentil (ILL7723) for the Terai of Nepal. In all 16 tonnes of seed produced by participatory farmers and on research stations will potentially see a rapid uptake of the new cultivar-far surpassing that of previous releases. Besides resistance to wilt, it also has a significant degree of resistance to rust and Stemphyllium blight and promises to be an important cultivar for the major lentil-growing region of the Western Terai.
Vascular wilt caused by F. oxysporium f. sp. lentis continues to be an important disease of lentil in Nepal and is aggravated by the increasing frequency of lentil cropping to meet demand and good prices received by the farmers. The only realistic method to control the disease is the use of resistant varieties. These are emerging as a result of the evaluation conducted in the ACIAR project and promise to be one of its major successes. Two lines (Digger (ILL5722), ILL1704) were rated highly resistant, 38 lines and varieties were rated resistant and 53 were recorded as moderately resistant. An important result was that the new line ILL7723 scheduled for release is rated at resistant. ILL 7982, under consideration for release in the mid hills, was also rated as resistant as was ILL7979 another promising variety for the mid hills. ILL4402 and ILL 2580 proposed for the whole of the Terai, and ILL6829 for the mid hills had moderate degrees of resistance. ILL7537, shown to have a high degree of resistance to Ascochyta blight in Australia in the first stage of the ACIAR project, is also rated resistant to wilt in the current series. This is a potentially important result for the Australian National Breeding Program as the line is being used widely in crosses.
Relay sowing of legumes into standing rice is common in the Indian sub-continent, often resulting in waterlogging of any under sown (relay) crops. Grass pea is reputedly more tolerant to this system than lentil - the favoured crop in Nepal. Glasshouse research in Perth and field trials in Nepal confirmed this. Low ODAP (a toxin) lines CLIMA 1 and CLIMA 2 are earlier and have been most promising in row evaluation at Rampur where they were sown for the first time-essentially for seed increase (R K Neupane). In addition, earlier maturing low lines from Bangladesh Bari Khesari 1 and Bari Khesari 2 were forward to NARC for evaluation against the well-adapted local line Sarlahi.

Significant progress has been made on the 7 project objectives over the 4-year course of the project.

1. Waterlogging tolerance
Compared to grass pea, all the lentil cultivars under evaluation performed poorly when subject to excess soil moisture in the flowering period at Nepalgunj. Previously reported differences (J Clements) in seedling tolerance in the lentils did not hold for more mature plants but the interaction with root and leaf diseases may have confounded any effect of differential tolerance to poor drainage.

2. Root diseases and acid soils
Root disease was screened in both the GxE trials and in the now mature wilt sick nurseries. In screening on wilt sick plots at Khumultar and Nepalgunj more than 100 lines with moderate to high resistance have been identified. Two lines (ILL5722, ILL1704) were rated highly resistant. Data from the GxE trials have also revealed the agronomically promising ILL 6256 and ILL7982 to have a significant degree of resistance. ILL7982 was one of the highest yielders in 2003/04 farmer participatory trials. These provide a good set to progress for agronomic evaluation or in the case of agronomically well-tested cultivars to provide additional criteria to support their release. In the 2003/04 set promising lines ILL7537 and ILL7723 were rated as resistant and the pending release, ILL2580 (Shital), as moderately resistant. The research also provides an avenue for more effective breeding in pinpointing parents such as the highly resistant ILL1704 of likely value in combating the disease syndrome. The resistance of Digger in the wilt sick nursery is good result for preemptive breeding in Australia. The fact that it is a parent in many crosses (M Materne private communication) is a safeguard for the future. It would be advantageous for promising advanced lines of Digger parentage (or sister lines) to be sent to Nepal for evaluation in their now well-established 'wilt sick' plots. The wilt sick nurseries are thus a valuable asset in selection of lines to progress for further agronomic evaluation as they enable early exclusion of the highly susceptible lines.

Stemphyllium was not recognised in Nepal as a major problem until recent years after the project commenced. It is now clear that the disease is spreading rapidly in both Nepal and Bangladesh. Release of tolerant varieties is a priority. In two years screening during the current project some resistance is evident. The challenge is to combine Stemphyllium and wilt resistance.

Dr Jo Slattery has prepared 4 acid tolerant Rhizobial isolates: RR510. 590, 607, 613 for trial in Nepal. RR 590 produced a 47% yield advantage over non innoculated plots on an acid soil the 2003/04 season A mapping exercise (J Berger and Renuka Shrestha) has defined the extensive range of acid soils where a combination of rhizobial strain with best adapted genotypes is a likely boost for lentil production .

3. Genotype x Environment interactions
The G X E studies indicated strongly that the ICARDA Nepal based breeding program is very much on track for producing improved varieties for Nepal

The generally larger seeded 'Australian' cultivars perform poorly in Nepal as well as being highly susceptible to Stemphyllium. As compared to South Asian genotypes, West Asian genotypes were poorly adapted in Nepal due to late flowering.

Crossbreds produced 20% higher seed yield than South Asian genotypes. They acquired early ground cover, early flowering & maturity traits from South Asian parents and improved yield potential, harvest Index & seed size traits from West Asian parents.

4. Seed priming
Seed priming technology research conducted by NARC and CLIMA has been one of the successes of the ACIAR project. It has resulted in NARC framing a recommendation for its use by growers. The NARC data, in line with Indian experience, has produced similar or greater yield increases in some trials (up to 43%).

5. Grasspea selections.
Lentil is very much the favored crop in Nepal because of ease of export and the prices the farmers receive in the market place. It is however by no means the species ideally adapted to the terai farming systems on account of the lentil's susceptibility to waterlogging and diseases. Low ODAP early maturing grasspea lines could well make an impact in Nepal both for grain and their superior forage production. The low ODAP line, 20 B, developed by Prof K Siddique and Dr C Hanbury grew well in a restricted sowing in Nepal but has yet to be assessed in larger plots. It is however later flowering (ca 10 days) than local varieties. This may be a disadvantage in the shorter seasons of the terai. Early generation low ODAP crossbreds (F3) made with 20B and the early maturing Nepal cultivar Sarlahi selected in Perth 2004 will be available to NARC for the 2005 season in Nepal.

6. Training
Lentil breeder Mr. N K Yadav attended the 12th Australian Plant Breeding conference in Perth and an associated Plant Breeding Master Class conducted by Canadian plant breeder Dr D Falk.
Plant Pathologist Ms S Joshi trained at ICARDA with Dr B Bayaa. Agronomist Mr R K Neupane visited programs and farmer organisation in Western Australia and Victoria. He was very impressed with the Horsham breeding and selection program - Australia's National program.

A successful conference was held in Kathmandu with a focus on lentil and grasspea. It drew on the research and practical experience of delegates from Nepal, Australia, ICARDA, India, Bangladesh as well as ICRISAT and APAARI. Some 50 delegates attended. A statistical analysis training course was held at Lumle immediately after the post conference field tour to Rampur and Nepalgunj. Conducted by Dr Jens Berger, CLIMA, and Ms Jane Spiers of the Western Australian Department of Agriculture at Lumle in the Mid-hills, the workshop was attended by 21 delegates. In light of the success of the 2003 course an equally successful follow up was conducted at Lumle in 2004.
7. Extension systems
Farmer participation in field trials and seed increase is strongly encouraged by NARC and ICARDA collaborator Dr Ashutosh Sarker. Farmer participation is in fact very necessary given the limited size and resources of the NARC Research Centers. It has become a major focus of the project for the evaluation and release of new varieties. Most importantly, it gives growers immediate access to new varieties and technologies. In the Nepalgunj region alone single replication yield trials were sown at 10 farmer sites - each with 10 lentil lines. The villages also undertake seed increase. At the village of Betahani this was outstanding. ILL 7723 with improved seed size and some Stemphyllium resistance have consistently out yielded Simal in the farmer participatory trials in the Nepalgunj area. ILL7723 is a chosen candidate for fast tracking release via the system.

Despite a difficult year with the unsettled political situation consequent upon the Maoist activity, significant progress in most of the 6 defined objectives has been made. This is thanks largely to the combined efforts of NARC staff. The completion of the project objectives can be achieved in 2006/07

1) Disease screening and agronomic control packages
Disease screening both for wilt and Stemphylium blight was largely successful in 2005/06 and comprised a major part of the program. Particularly encouraging was the fact that a number of selections had tolerance of both diseases. These included ILL 6811, ILL6256, ILL7164, ILL8093 and ILL6408. The fact that lines like ILL7982 which were selected for farmer participation on the basis of wilt and Stemphyllium did not perform as well in 05/06 trials, strongly indicates the need for several years of data before final conclusions can be drawn on disease resistance. Nevertheless the results and associated yield and seed quality data will continue to be the main criteria for introduction in to the farmer participatory research. In the different regions of Nepal farmer participation has been a feature of NARC activities and one strongly encouraged by ICARDA. In all more than 250 farmers in the various regions received seed samples or participated in NARC trials. Lines like ILL 7723, ILL7164, ILL7982, ILL7537 ILL4402 and ILL7979 have all been distributed to farmers in the Terai - Central, East and West and the Mid Hills regions. Cases for formal registration of new lines are to be considered prior to next planting season. Already one new cultivar, Shital, has resulted directly from the program.

Associated with the disease screening were trials based on plant density and time of planting which proved to have little impact on disease incidence. Fungicide application however proved effective in reducing disease incidence in a susceptible commercial cultivar, Simal. Depending on the cost and availability of herbicides it seems 2 sprays can be an economic action. However, widespread use amongst the small farmers is not anticipated in the immediate future because of cost and problems of distribution.

2) Lathyrus low ODAP lines
Lathyrus lines were grown in Perth as an F 4 population. Growth vigor and maturity were assessed. After testing
for the neurotoxin ODAP only low ODAP lines are forwarded to Nepal for field evaluation. Pale flower colour which can be
used as a marker has also been selected in Perth and 28 F4 lines will be forwarded to Nepal for row evaluation in
06/07. Seed increase as F5 lines of all lines will be conducted in Perth during 2006 to ensure adequate seed supplies
for further bulking by NARC. The F4 population in Nepal failed in 2005 - a combination of drought and herbicide drift.

3) Inoculant systems for acid soils
The difficulty in gaining frequent access to acid soil sites in the West of Nepal, has seen these trials deferred until 2006

4) NARC In-service training and data presentation
A follow up course on statistical analysis was planned to be located in Nepal, but due to DFAT travel warnings
this had to be deferred until next season when it is to be hoped security will be improved. The course
planned has been successfully undertaken by Dr Jens Berger in the past and has involved some 20 Nepalese
scientists. He is happy to undertake the course which is now scheduled for early 2007.

The project supported 5 delegates to the international Grain legume conference in New Delhi at which two poster
papers and two posters were presented.

5) Linkage with ICARDA specialist
ICARDA lentil breeder Dr Ashutosh Sarker has remained in close contact with NARC scientists both through the
International Grain Legume Conference in New Delhi and a visit to the country in January 06. During his visit he
examined the farmer participation trials in the Mid hill and inner terai (Rampur). Some 40 new line were made available
from his breeding program for assessment in Nepal. These were evaluated for the first time at Rampur in seed increase
rows.

6) Project administration, communications and publications
NARC staff have fully documented their results despite the number of administrative changes. The return to Nepal of Dr Renuka Shrestha after her successful PhD studies considerably strengthens the NARC team after a series of administrative changes at NARC.