Assessment of genetic diversity and trait association in grass pea using morphometrics, grain protein and seed ODAP content

Abstract

Fifty grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) genotypes were evaluated for morphological variability, grain protein and ODAP content using principal component analysis. Cluster analysis and correlation coefficient were also enumerated. Plant height, primary branch number, pod per plant, seed per pod and 100 seed weight had the direct positive effect on yield per plant. Out of thirteen, five PCs exhibited more than 1 eigen value but the level of dissimilarity was low which indicates that the germplasm has narrow genetic base. The first five principal components were selected exhibiting 68.16% variation. The PC1, PC2, PC3, PC4 and PC5 had 20.47%, 15.72%, 12.62%, 9.78% and 9.57% variability respectively, among the genotypes for the traits under study. All the genotypes are grouped into five clusters using D2 statistics. These results suggested that dry biomass yield, days of 50% flowering, soluble protein content and yield per plant were the most important characters in differentiating the genotypes.