Unveiling Genetic Diversity in Pea: Characterization and Selection of Promising Genotypes for Pea Breeding

Muhammad Saqlain Shabbir 1*, Amir Shakeel 1, Asif Saeed 1, Muhammad Haris 2, Zunaira Afzal 3,4, Ahsan Ameer 1 and Hamza Iltaf 5

1 Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 2 Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. 3 Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (CABB), University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 4 Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security (CAS-AFS), University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan. 5 School of Breeding and Multiplication, Hainan University, Sanya, China.

Abstract

Peas (Pisum sativum L.) are the second most significant crop in pulses. It is model crop with rich genetic research history dating back to father of genetics, Gregor J. Mendel’s work. It is consumed as green and dry peas in various regions around the globe. It is an excellent source of proteins, anti-oxidants, and fiber. Due to changes in climatic conditions yield of pea varieties has decreased in previous years. So, it is necessary to evaluate genetic diversity present in existing pea accessions and to search for various pea genotypes having the potential for changing climatic conditions. For this reason, twenty pea genotypes were field-tested using RCBD during 2022-23. After the vegetative stage, data was collected for traits like plant height, days to 50% flowering, length and width of the pods, pods per plant, 100-seed weight, seed diameter, number of seeds per pod and yield. Significant variation among the studied accessions for all the traits were shown by ANOVA. Most of the traits exhibited high heritability coupled with high genetic advance, indicating that these traits were governed by additive gene action. Hence hybridization and selection would be fruitful for these traits. Whereas, pod width showed low values of heritability and genetic advance. For all the studied traits magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variance was greater than genotypic coefficient of variance, which revealed that these traits had additive environmental effect. According to correlation analysis, pod width showed no significant correlation with any other trait studied. Yield was largely attributed to plant height and seed diameter. PGRI-42 and PGRI-44 were observed to be most diverse genotypes in terms of studied morphological traits. Whereas, V20 and 19723 were almost genetically similar. This study would assist in selecting genotypes with a varied genetic background for use in future pea breeding programs.