On the minimal number of singular fibers in Lefschetz fibrations over the torus

We show that the minimal number of singular fibers $N(g,1)$ in a genus-$g$ Lefschetz fibration over the torus is at least $3$. As an application, we show that $N(g, 1) \in \{ 3, 4\}$ for $g\ge 5$, $N(g, 1) \in \{3, 4,5 \}$ for $g= 3, 4$ and $N(2,1) = 7$.