Morpho-agronomic diversity in grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.)

In order to describe the phenotypic diversity in a core collection of grasspea, 47 progenies of single plants (pure lines) selected from 25 accessions were evaluated. Sixteen morpho-agronomic characters including seed 3-(?-N-oxalyl)-l-2,3 diaminopropionic acid (?-ODAP) content were studied. Univariate and multivariate analyses (principal component analysis and cluster analysis) were performed to estimate differences between progenies. Some high-yielding lines could be used directly for cultivation as new varieties and/or as parental lines in crossing programmes. Seed ?-ODAP concentration varied from 0.24% to 0.64%. However, a medium to high seed ?-ODAP level was recorded for most of the lines, and no significant correlation was observed between this and other morphological traits.