The Scientific World Journal Volume 2012, Article ID 710412, 9 pages doi:10.1100/2012/710412 The cientificWorldJOURNAL Research Article Diversity of Macro- and Micronutrients in the Seeds of Lentil Landraces Tolga Karak¨ oy, 1 Halil Erdem, 2 Faheem S. Baloch, 3 Faruk Toklu, 4 Selim Eker, 2 Benjamin Kilian, 5 and Hakan ¨ Ozkan 3 1 Organic Agriculture Program, Vocational School of Sivas, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey 2 Department of Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, C ¸ukurova University, 01330 Adana, Turkey 3 Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, C ¸ukurova University, 01330 Adana, Turkey 4 Seed Science and Technology Program, Vocational School of Kozan, C ¸ukurova University, Kozan, 01550 Adana, Turkey 5 Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Genebank/Genome Diversity, Corrensstraße 3, 06466 Gatersleben, Germany Correspondence should be addressed to Hakan ¨ Ozkan, hozkan@cu.edu.tr Received 4 June 2012; Accepted 7 August 2012 Academic Editors: P. Andrade and A. M. De Ron Copyright © 2012 Tolga Karak¨ oy et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Increasing the amount of bioavailable mineral elements in plant foods would help to improve the nutritional status of populations in developing countries. Legume seeds have the potential to provide many essential nutrients. It is important to have information on genetic variations among different lentil populations so that plant breeding programs can use new varieties in cross-breeding programs. The main objective of this study was to characterize the micro- and macronutrient concentrations of lentil landraces seeds collected from South-Eastern Turkey. We found impressive variation in the micro- and macroelement concentrations in 39 lentil landraces and 7 cultivars. We investigated the relationships of traits by correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). The concentrations of several minerals, particularly Zn, were positively correlated with other minerals, suggesting that similar pathways or transporters control the uptake and transport of these minerals. Some genotypes had high mineral and protein content and potential to improve the nutritional value of cultivated lentil. Cross-breeding of numerous lentil landraces from Turkey with currently cultivated varieties could improve the levels of micro- and macronutrients of lentil and may contribute to the worldwide lentil quality breeding program. 1. Introduction Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is an ancient crop of classical Mediterranean civilization and continues to play an impor- tant role in the global human diet and modern agriculture. Lentil is one of the oldest dry legumes and was domesticated about 9000 years ago from the wild progenitor Lens culinaris subsp. orientalis (Boiss.), in an area that comprises modern day South-Eastern Turkey and an adjoining part of Syria [1]. Ferguson et al. [2] showed that South-Eastern Turkey/North- Western Syria is the primary center of diversity for L. culinaris. Lentil is the fourth most important pulse (legume) crop in the world after bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), pea (Pisum sativum L.), and chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). According to the Statistical Bureau of the Food and Agriculture Organiza- tion of the United Nations, lentil is currently cultivated on 4 million ha in warm temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions of more than 40 countries and is grown in all con- tinents except Antarctica [3]. There are two biotypes of cul- tivated lentil: small seeded (microsperma) and large seeded (macrosperma). Microsperma lentils are widely grown in South-Eastern Turkey and provide an inexpensive source of protein. Lentils are commonly consumed throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East regions. They are also used to make nutritious and inexpensive soups that are popular in Northern Europe and North America. Turkey has its own version of red lentil soup locally known as “Kırmızı Mercimek