Genetic Divergence in Grass Pea [Lathyrus sativus (L.)]

This book is about developing superior genotypes of Grass pea, Lathyrus sativus through examine the genetic variability and nature of association among yield as well as quality characters (seed protein content) and assess the genetic divergence among grass pea varieties/strains. The genetic improvement in a crop is preliminary conditioned by the nature, magnitude and interrelation of genetic and non genetic variation of various plant characters. Seed yield as well as seed protein content are polygenic in nature and influenced by the environmental effects. Further studies on nature and degree of divergence between different genotypes is very useful in selecting the desirable parents for hybridization programme as it is well established that success in getting desirable transgressive recombinants in segregating generations is dependent on degree of genetic divergence of the parents. Considering all these aspects, research was undertaken by growing 16 diverse varieties/strains of grass pea derived as somaclonal variants of ‘’Ratan’’ variety under conserved moisture condition for three years.