A seed crop of ALB Dane at Mallala in South Australia’s Adelaide Plains region. Photo: Seednet

THE Australian Lentil Breeding program is launching an exciting new large-sized lentil variety this year, ALB Dane.

It has been evaluated for many years under the breeder code ALB2321. with excellent trial yield results over a range of Victorian and South Australian lentil-growing regions.

The name Dane has been chosen to follow the dog-breed theme of previous Australian Lentil Breeding program releases, namely PBA Kelpie and ALB Terrier.

• PBA Kelpie: quick-maturing variety;
• ALB Terrier: small-sized variety; and,
• ALB Dane: large-sized variety.

ALB Dane has been bred to replace the well known large-sized red lentil variety PBA Jumbo2, with 2024 NVT long-term results across all Vic and SA sites showing ALB Dane with an overall average yield 10 percent higher than Jumbo2.

The other key advantage of ALB Dane over PBA Jumbo2 is that ALB Dane is tolerant to imidazolinone herbicide.

An ALB trial plot at the Birchip Cropping Group field day site in the Victorian Mallee. Photo: Seednet

While ALB Dane is adapted to all lentil-growing regions, it is particularly well-suited to clay loam soil types, and it is also provisionally rated moderately tolerant to saline soil conditions, which gives it an advantage over currently grown varieties.

Another key feature of ALB Dane is its relatively late flowering and maturity, making it ideal for longer growing-season regions, and giving growers the opportunity to sow early without increasing the risk of frost damage.

ALB Dane also has a distinct vegetative growth habit, with horizontal branching readily spreading across sowing rows to maximise the capture of sunlight in winter months.

For grain marketing, ALB Dane fits clearly in the large market class for lentils, which is currently enjoying a price premium over small-sized varieties.

ALB Dane is being grown for seed by Seednet partners in Vic and SA this year, with seed widely available to growers in 2026.

For more information about ALB Dane lentils and enquiries for seed, please contact Seednet territory manager Stu Ockerby on 0448 469 745.

Source: Seednet