title: Diversity of pea (Pisum sativum) accessions  based on morphological data for sustainable field pea breeding in Argentina.
abstract: We characterized 13 accessions of dry peas of  different origins from various growing regions in Argentina, based on three  replications of 20 plants cultivated in 2009 and 2010 in a greenhouse, with the  objective of selecting those with favorable characteristics for use in breeding  programs. Significant differences were found for length and width of stipule  and pod, length of the internodes and leaflets, plant height, total number of  nodes, number of nodes at the first pod, number of days to flowering and to  harvest, number of pods and seeds per pod, 100-seed weight and grain diameter,  demonstrating a high degree of genetic variability. Phenotypic correlation  analysis demonstrated that large pods produced more seeds per pod, but the seed  weight decreased. Plants with smaller number of nodes in the first pod were more  productive. Estimates of genotypic correlation coefficients indicated a strong  inherent association among the different traits. Clustering methods grouped the  accessions into five clusters. Cluster 5 included two accessions and showed the  highest values for length and width of stipules (4.9 and 4.5 cm, respectively),  length of leaflets (7.43 cm) and days to flowering (122.6), while cluster 3,  with one accession, and cluster 4, with two accessions, showed the highest  values for number of seeds per pod (3.78 and 4.39), number of pods per plant  (5.33 and 5.70), length of pods (5.54 and 5.72 cm), and width of pods (1.21 and  1.20 cm, respectively). We conclude that accessions in clusters 3 and 4 would  be useful for crosses with other cultivars in pea breeding programs.
authors: Department of Genetic and Plant Breeding, Rosario National University, Zavalla, Argentina. ileana1111@gmail.com
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Gatti
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Espósito
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Almirón
authors: V P
authors: VP
authors: Cravero
authors: E L
authors: EL
authors: Cointry
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina; D001947:Breeding; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D060146:Ecotype; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D018532:Pisum sativum / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable