GENETIC VARIABILITY AND HERITABILITY ESTIMATION FOR YIELD AND YIELD RELATED TRAITS IN GARDEN PEA (Pisum sativum L.)

A field study was carried out during during the growing seasons of Pea in 2022 and 2023 to identify genetic diversity and heritability of the 22 pea genotypes that included 17 accessions and 5 commercial varieties. The randomized complete block design with three replications evaluated 19 quantitative and six qualitative traits pertaining to maturity, yield, and yield components. Analysis of variance showed significant (p<0.01) differences among the genotypes for quantitative traits. P.G-3 is the pea genotype that had the shortest emergence time at 10.3 days, days to 50% flowering (111.4 days), pod length (11.3 cm), and seeds per pod (8.5). P.G-8 recorded the longest duration to first picking; it was 141.6 days. Also, P.G-7 registered a 5.56 average for picking number and 7.8 for branches. The highest stem recorded in P.G-2 with 198.2 cm, P.G-15 had the highest number of leaves (103.5) and pods (35.4), and P.G-16 had the largest pod diameter (1.15 cm). Tarnab Pea registered the highest weight for 100 fresh green seeds (47.0 g), while Bashir 2021 had the thickest stem (0.62 cm), and the highest yield (13.5 tons/ha). Due to their advance in early maturation and yield performance, P.G-7, P.G-8, and P.G-15 are recommended for multi-location trials and pea breeding programs.