Evaluation of yield and morphological traits variation of Lathyrus spp. Accessions

Lathyrus is the largest genus in the economically important tribe Fabeae. It is used for many purposes in animal feed, planting in low-yield lands, cold resistance, water shortage, and increasing soil fertility. To evaluate the yield and morphological traits of 44 accessions of six species of the genus Lathyrus including one accession of L. aphaca var. aphaca, seven accessions of L. cassius, one accession of L. chloranthus, two accessions of L. cicera, 22 accessions of L. inconspicuus and nine accessions of L. sativus, were studied as a randomized complete block design with three replications at Alborz Research Station in Karaj. The results showed that there was a significant difference between L. cassius and L. inconspicuus accessions in morphological characteristics except for flowering time and seed maturity. The studied populations of L. sativus in addition to flowering time and seed maturity did not show diversity in plant dry weight, biomass production, and pod characteristics. The field potential of 44 accessions of the six studied species with different geographical origins under constant field conditions showed no relationship with their geographical origin. Thus, it can be stated that the similarity between the accessions is not due to their geographical origin, and the natural distribution of Lathyrus species has been separated by crop cultivars. However, the observed diversity suggests that genetic improvement is potentially possible through crossbreeding and selection. Then the simultaneous appearance of two traits of high biomass yield and taller plant height in an accession was recognized as a distinguishing feature, and accessions with the above characteristics can be used as parents.