Field phenotyping and quality traits of grass pea genotypes in South Italy

BACKGROUND Grass pea (Laithyrus sativus L.) is a rustic plant whose seeds are rich in polyphenols and antioxidants, and it has been consumed as food by human beings since ancient times. This study was conducted in Italy between 2017and 2019 to evaluate under field conditions, the stability of seed yield, biomass and 1000 seed weight (THS) and to assess the antioxidant composition and activity of eleven grass pea accessions. RESULTS The analysis of variance revealed significant effects of the environment, accession and accession x environment (A×E) on the yield, above-ground biomass and the THS. We found that the environment (year) and A×E explained 52.61% and 23.76 % of the total seed yield variation, respectively. No relationship was observed between the yield and the total protein of seeds. Most grass pea accessions showed sensitivity to frost conditions that occurred in the third growing season. The total phenolic content ranged from 50.51 to 112.78 mg/100 g of seeds and the antioxidant activity ranged from 0.576 to 0.898 mmol TE/100 g of seeds and from 0.91 to 1.6 mmol Fe²? /100 g of seeds in ABTS and FRAP, respectively. Among the accessions, the "Campi Flegrei" and "di Castelcività" showed the best performance with the highest yield and stability, phenolic content and superior antioxidant activity. CONCLUSION The results showed that the yield of grass pea was mainly influenced by different climate conditions. This variability in yield, phenolic content and antioxidant activity among different accessions could help breeders and farmers select high-performance accessions for cultivation