Molecular and Biochemical Characterisation of Indian Germplasm of Pisum sativum L.

Information about the genetic diversity of any crop is important for successful employment of breeding programmes. In the present study, an initiative was taken to characterise genetic diversity of 40 pea genotypes using twenty-four EST-SSRs and three biochemical traits. The polymorphism information content value for SSR markers ranged from 0.095 to 0.500 at an average of 0.349. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.17 (Azad Pea1/IC-219010) to 0.92 (IC-219010/219008) with an average value of 0.45 exhibiting considerable genetic diversity. Forty genotypes were clustered into two major clusters A and B. Bayesian model-based programme determined population structure and divided the accessions into two major populations. The mean data of various genotypes for protein content (%), total sugar content (%) and ascorbic acid content (mg/100 g) were found in the range of 16.07 (Azad P3) to 25.09 (IC-208366), 12.65 (IC-218991) to 19.97 (Lincoln) and 3.01 (Arka Pramodh) to 5.57 (DPPIV-2), respectively. The information collected from EST-SSR markers and biochemical traits may assist pea breeders to utilise breeding programmes for the improvement of the target traits.