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Morphological characteristics of some accessions of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) grown in Europe and nutritional traits of their seeds

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Abstract

Thirty-one European accessions of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) originating from Italy, Spain, Northern France, Germany and Poland grown in the same soil-climatic conditions in Poland were investigated. The morphological traits as well as the seed morphology and nutrient contents were studied. Substantial differentiation in some morphological characteristics was noticed. The plants could be assigned to two groups: one group comprising the lines from the Mediterranean basin (Italy and Spain) and the other group containing the accessions from West-central Europe (Northern France, Germany and Poland). The grass pea plants produced from the seeds obtained from West-central Europe appeared to be about 10 cm taller than the Mediterranean accessions and had predominantly white flowers. Their seeds were more than two times smaller than seeds of the accessions of Italian or Spanish origin. There were not noted any considerable differences in nutrient contents or antinutritional factors in seeds between these two groups of Lathyrus accessions. A negative correlation between β-ODAP and tannin contents (r = −0.379, P ≤ 0.05) and a positive correlation (r = 0.843, P ≤ 0.01) between a tannin content and flower color intensity were found. A white or crème colour was associated with a low tannin level in the seeds, while the colourful blooming accessions had higher tannin contents.

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Acknowledgments

The research was performed due to the cooperation with Genebank in Gatersleben (Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Federal Republic of Germany). We wish to express our sincere gratitude to those whose efforts and cooperation made this work possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Animal Nutrition, University of Life Sciences, ul. Akademicka 13, 20-950, Lublin, Poland

    Eugeniusz R. Grela, Renata Klebaniuk & Jan Matras

  2. Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Strzeszyńska 34, 60-479, Poznań, Poland

    Wojciech Rybiński

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  1. Eugeniusz R. Grela
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  2. Wojciech Rybiński
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  3. Renata Klebaniuk
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  4. Jan Matras
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Correspondence to Eugeniusz R. Grela.

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Grela, E.R., Rybiński, W., Klebaniuk, R. et al. Morphological characteristics of some accessions of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) grown in Europe and nutritional traits of their seeds. Genet Resour Crop Evol 57, 693–701 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-009-9505-4

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