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Book of Abstracts First Legume Society Conference 2013: A Legume Odyssey Novi Sad, Serbia, 9-11 May 2013
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Variability of chosen grass pea accessions (Lathyrus sativus L.) in terms morphological
traits and the chemical composition of seeds
Eugeniusz R Grela 1 , Wojciech Rybiński 2 , Renata Klebaniuk 1 , Jan Matras 1
1 Institute of Animal Nutrition, University of Life Sciences, Lublin, Poland
2 Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznań, Poland
The grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is one of the oldest cultivated species and was known as far
back as 8000 BCE. In total there are 15 species of Lathyrus in Poland, although only one of them,
the grass pea, has any economic significance. The history of grass pea cultivation in Poland is not
known. According to Milczak in Poland (in the Podlasie region) grass pea first appeared as a
weed accompanying lentils as far back as 17 th century, at the time of the Tatar settlement. In
1991, on the basis of selection from the local grass pea population, Milczak developed two
promising lines denoted “Der” an “Kra” which, after a series of multi-year field experiments,
were registered as original cultivars – Derek and Krab. This study investigated both these two
Polish cultivars and 29 European grass pea accessions (Lathyrus sativus L.) from Italy, Spain,
France and Germany grown in the same soil-climatic conditions (an experimental station) in
Poland. The morphological traits of plants of particular accessions were studied during the
vegetation season, as well as their seed morphology and nutrient content. The results indicated a
great differentiation between the analyzed accessions in terms of some morphological
characteristics. This was particularly visible between Polish small-seeded cultivars and largeseeded
accessions derived from the Mediterranean Basin. Polish cultivars, as well as all the
remaining accessions, were characterized by a high protein and low fat content, with large
differences in fatty acid composition. However, for the seeds of all accessions containing antinutritional
compounds – neurotoxins and tannins, a large differentiation was noted among
accessions. This enabled selection of those accessions, derived from different parts of Europe,
with the most promising nutritional value. These may constitute valuable initial material for
breeding purposes leading to the release of new and improved grass pea cultivars.
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