Abstract
The production and productivity of field pea in Ethiopia is constrained by low-yielding potential of land race, susceptibility to diseases like powdery mildew and Ascochyta blight/spot as well as a biotic stresses like frost and soil acidity. The field experiment was conducted in 2018/19 main cropping season at two locations using simple lattice design to evaluate the genetic variability and performance of forty nine field pea genotypes for yield ad yield attributing traits. The combined/pooled / analysis of variance revealed highly significant (<i>P≤0.01</i>) to significant <i> (P≤0.05)</i> differences among genotypes observed for all traits under study except for number of seeds pod<sup>-1</sup>. The seed yield ranged from 1955 to 5997 kg ha<sup>-1</sup> with a mean of 3803 kg across the two locations. Two genotypes PDFPT-BEK and P-313-053 were relatively high yielder over the two locations. The genotypic (GCV) and phenotypic (PCV) coefficient of variation (GCV) ranged from (1.07%) to (22.40%) and (1.22%) to (28.18% for days to maturity and grain yield, respectively for combined analyses. The PCV values were relatively greater than GCV in magnitude for all traits, of which significantly higher PCV than GCV values observed for number of pods per plant, Stand count, powdery mildew and ascocayta blight, but insignificant differences between PCV and GCV values observed for days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, 1000 seed weight, and grain yield. Broad sense heritability ranged from 23.66% to 90.73%. The genetic advance as percentage of mean (GAM) varied from 1.92% to 36.73%. Higher heritability (H2) coupled with high GAM observed for grain yield per ha and Higher heritability (H2) coupled with Moderate or relatively high value of GAM in plant height and seed size. Therefore, improvement of these traits could be done through selection of genotypes based on the phenotypic performance.
Highlights
In Ethiopia, among pulse crops, field pea (Pisum sativum L.) stands fourth next to faba bean, haricot bean and chickpea in total production and areas coverage [6].It is grown on 220,508.39 hectares of land with total production of 368,519.065 tones and productivity of 1.671t/ha; which accounts 13.79% from pulses total area coverage and 12.37% from total production in Ethiopia [6].Even though wild and primitive forms of field pea species are known to exist; P. sativum is more dominant in the production system at the high land of the country [20]
The finding in this study was in agreement with report of [32] where, highly significant to significant differences between twenty four field pea genotype for plant height, harvest index, biological yield, thousand seed weightand grain yield except seed per plant and pod per plant. [22] indicated highly significant variations among forty six pea genotypes for all the characters studied viz., days to 50% flowering, grain filling period, days to 90% maturity, plant height, number of pods per plant, seeds per pod, seeds per plant, ascochyta blight, powdery mildew, thousand seed weight and grain yield (Kg/ha). [4] observed highly significant differences for days to flower initiation, days to maturity, plant height, pod length, above ground biomass and 100 seed weight
Test locations exerted highly significant to significanteffects on stand count, days to flowering, and days to maturity, plant height, seeds per pod, thousand seed weight, ascochyta blight and powdery mildew indicating the phenotypic expression of these traits was different at both locations
Summary
In Ethiopia, among pulse crops, field pea (Pisum sativum L.) stands fourth next to faba bean, haricot bean and chickpea in total production and areas coverage [6].It is grown on 220,508.39 hectares of land with total production of 368,519.065 tones and productivity of 1.671t/ha; which accounts 13.79% from pulses total area coverage and 12.37% from total production in Ethiopia [6].Even though wild and primitive forms of field pea species are known to exist; P. sativum is more dominant in the production system at the high land of the country [20]. In Ethiopia, among pulse crops, field pea (Pisum sativum L.) stands fourth next to faba bean, haricot bean and chickpea in total production and areas coverage [6]. It is grown on 220,508.39 hectares of land with total production of 368,519.065 tones and productivity of 1.671t/ha; which accounts 13.79% from pulses total area coverage and 12.37% from total production in Ethiopia [6]. Even though wild and primitive forms of field pea species are known to exist; P. sativum is more dominant in the production system at the high land of the country [20]. Western and Central Asia and the Mediterranean region are proposed as possible centers of origin for field pea because of the high pea genetic diversity sampled in these regions [18].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
