Lightning & Thunder Lentils are here! And their yield potential looks exciting.
We did a recap over GIA new lentils back in May, but here’s a better rundown on the Lightning and Thunder varieties.
GIA Thunder (GIA2002L) IMI Lentil
GIA Thunder lentils are an imi-tolerant, high-yielding, and broadly adapted premium small round red lentils planned for commercial release later this year.
Why are we excited? Because Thunder lentils are derived from a cross between the popular varieties PBA Bolt and Hurricane XT. And the results are fabulous. GIA Thunder was the highest yielding IMI lentil across NVT and GIA trials in Australia in 2020 and 2021. They averaged approximately 10% above all other varieties, including an average increase of 11% above PBA Hurricane XT.
Package-wise, GIA Thunder disease resistance and plant maturity are similar to PBA Hurricane XT. Still, they showed significantly improved levels of vegetative frost tolerance over PBA Highland XT, Hallmark XT and Hurricane XT’s in 2021 trials.
Provisional ratings for diseases are Resistant (R) and Moderately Resistant/Moderately Susceptible (MR/MS) respectively for the Nipper and Hurricane virulence strains of ascochyta blight, and MR/S to botrytis grey mould.
Another one we’ve got our eyes on is GIA Lightning. GIA Lightning’s are another Imi tolerant high yielding, broadly adapted premium small round red lentil. They had a limited bit of seed released for 2022 sowings, and we’re interested to see how they go.
In GRDC NVT trials (2020-21), GIA Lightning averaged 9% higher yielding than all current IMI tolerant varieties (excluding GIA Thunder) in South Australia.
GIA Lightnings come from a PBA Ace and Hurricane XT background, and the plants have an upright bush-type structure which will aid harvestability.
Another reason we’re keen to grow GIA Lightning’s is that their combination of yield stability, growth pattern, and plant type makes them a reliable choice on lighter sandy textured soils. (In these situations, they have even produced higher yields than GIA Thunders).
GIA Lightning has disease resistance similar to PBA Hurricane XT, and its plant maturity timing is slightly later than GIA Thunder but earlier than GIA Leader. All things going well, GIA Lightning is expected to have more significant seed availability for 2023.
Provisional rating for diseases are Resistant (R) and Moderately Resistant/Moderately Susceptible (MR/MS) for the Nipper and Hurricane virulence strains of ascochyta blight, and Moderately Susceptible (MS) to botrytis grey mould. It will likely require the same disease management strategies as PBA Highland XTA and PBA Hurricane XTA.
