Assessment of Genetic Variability and Selection Potential for Yield-attributing Traits in Grass Pea (Lathyrus sativus L.)

Abstract

Effective genetic improvement of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) depends on the amount of useful variation present in yield-associated characters and on their expected response to selection. The study quantified genetic variability, broad-sense heritability, and genetic advance for twelve quantitative characters in 21 diverse genotypes grown in the 2016–17 and 2017–18 Rabi seasons. Observations included plant height and primary and secondary branching; pod number and length; seeds per pod; root length; seed yield; and the timing of flowering, pod maturity, and harvest. For each character, PCV was greater than GCV, indicating that the environment contributed to the observed phenotype. The strongest genotypic variation was found in pods per plant, seed yield per plant, and seeds per pod. Broad-sense heritability ranged from 29.80% for pod length to 87.40% for seed yield per plant, with high estimates also recorded for days to 100% flowering, seeds per pod, days to flower initiation, and root length. Pods per plant and seed yield per plant each combined high heritability with a high genetic advance percentage, giving them comparatively strong selection potential in the material examined. Their usefulness as selection criteria should nevertheless be verified under additional environments.