Insights into morphological and molecular diversity in grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) germplasm

Grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is a multifaceted orphan legume considered a climate-smart crop because of its wider adaptation, higher yield, and better nutritional value. The present study involved morpho-molecular characterization and identification of the best-performing accessions for important yield contributing traits like days to 80% maturity (BANG31, BANG38), number of pods per plant (IFLA276, IC489623) and 100-seed weight (IFLA1439, IC0634674). Traits like plant height, petiole length, and 100-seed weight showed high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as a percentage of the mean (GAM). Principal component analysis gave five principal components, and hierarchical clustering divided the accessions into four groups. Twenty simple sequence repeat markers showed polymorphism with polymorphic information content ranging from 0.02 to 0.67 with an average of 0.34 and heterozygosity ranging between 0 to 0.5. Molecular diversity research by principal coordinate analysis and hierarchical clustering led to similar grouping patterns as noted for morpho-molecular dendrograms for 100-seed weight and days to maturity. The identified superior and diverse accessions can be used for grasspea improvement to bring back this golden legume to large-scale cultivation.