Characterization of Pea Germplasm

Abstract

There is a benefit to continued development of improved lines and cultivars of edible plants by effectively using the available gene pool. Pea is a staple food throughout the world (Pisum sativum L.). A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive seasons to assess the genetic diversity of 146 pea accessions. The characterization was based on quantitative and qualitative morphological characters. The pea accessions were collected from different agro-climatic zones of the world. A high degree of diversity was found among the pea germplasms both for qualitative and quantitative traits. Principal component analysis showed that days to 50% flowering, 100-seed weight (fresh and dry), plant height, and number of pods per plant are among the most important descriptors which accounted for more than 90% of the variation. Such a high magnitude of variation suggests the use of all these traits for efficient characterization of pea germplasm. Correlation studies revealed positive and significant correlations among yield, seeds per pod, 100-seed weight (fresh and dry) pod length, and width. Cluster analysis assigned all of the accessions to nine distinct clusters based on Euclidean distances and Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean (UPGMA), which suggests that there is no parallelism between genetic and geographical diversity.