VARIATION AND CORRELATION OF MORPHO-AGRONOMIC TRAITS AND BIOCHEMICAL CONTENTS (PROTEIN AND Ǻ-ODAP) IN TURKISH GRASS PEA (Lathyrus sativus L.) LANDRACES

Abstract

Fifty-one landraces and one released variety ‘Gurbuz-2001’ of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) collected from Turkey and grown in Samsun-Turkey condition were characterized by morpho-agronomic traits, protein and neurotoxic ȕ-ODAP (ȕ-N-oxalyl-L-Į,ȕ-diaminopropionic acid) contents in seed. High variation was observed among landraces regarding all the studied traits. ȕ-ODAP content was determined by using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and extreme levels of ȕ-ODAP were 1.40 and 3.05 mg g-1 in among the landraces (average 1.96 mg g-1). Also, the correlations between traits were investigated and, the strongest positive correlations were between main stem number and leaflet length and, between seed yield per plant and pod number per plant. Seed yield significantly (p< 0.01) and positively correlated with most of the investigated traits. Correlations between ȕ-ODAP content and other traits were negative or no significant.  In general, many of the landraces were superior than released variety ‘Gurbuz-2001’ with their seed yield, protein content and ȕ-ODAP content.