Disentangling the Genetic Diversity of Grass Pea Germplasm Grown under Lowland and Highland Conditions

Abstract

Grass pea is recognized as one of the most resilient and versatile crops, thriving in extreme environments. It has also high protein content and suitable for forage production. These abilities make the crop a superior product for guaranteeing food security in changing climate conditions. To address this concern, a total of 94 accessions were assessed in relation to three qualitative and 19 quantitative traits in lowland (Antalya, Turkey) and highland (Isparta, Turkey) conditions. There were significant differences among genotypes for all agronomic traits in lowland location. The maximum biological yield was detected in GP104 and GP145 with values of 22.5 and 82.4 g in lowland and highland, respectively. The t-test of significance for mean values indicated that there were significant differences between the growing areas for all agronomic traits except for number of pods. Principal component analysis using the 11 agronomic traits including maturity, yield and yield related-traits showed that 76.4% and 72.2% variability were accounted for the first four principal components (PCs) with eigenvalues ≥ 1 in collection grown in highland and lowland, respectively. The data on variations in agronomic, quality and forage traits detected in this research provided useful genetic resources. The parental genotypes which have desired traits can be used in grass pea improvement programs to develop new cultivars.