Influence of genotype ant meteorological conditions on seed productivity of flat pea (Lathyrus Sylvestris)

Abstract

Flat pea (Lathyrus sylvestris L.) is a member of the family Fabaceae, native to Europe, parts of Africa and Asia. Flat pea is adapted to a wide range of soils and tolerant of numerous environmental factors that restrict the growth of many other plant species. Flat pea is a long-lived erosion control plant that can grow on severely disturbed soil under acid conditions and begin a soil improvement process as well used as living mulch. Flat pea possesses numerous characteristics that make it a potentially valuable agricultural species. Influence of genotype ant meteorological conditions on seed productivity of 12 flat pea genotypes of different geographical origins grown under equal field and agrotechnic conditions were investigated in 2011–2015 m. Phenological observations of vegetation stages were performed. The morphological evaluation of plants included stem height, number of inflorescences, flowers and pods per stem, number of ovules and seeds per pod and plant. Diseases activity and severity was estimated with the Horsfall scale. The research data shows, that the meteorological conditions had a decisive influence on flat pea height of stem, number of inflorescences, seed productivity as well as the spread of fungal diseases, especially downy mildew caused by Peronospora viciae. Height of stem correlated positively with pod (r = 0.68) and seed number (r = 0.63) per stem. Number of ovules per pod was the most stabile characteristic (V = 4.2%), while most variable were numbers of pods and mature seeds per stem (V = 55.9 and 56.3%, respectively). Resistance to downy mildew of the genotypes correlated directly with the number of pods per stem, number ovules per pod and especially number of seeds per stem (r = 0.65; 0.62 and 0.69, respectively). The reduction of numbers of flowers and pods per stem may be partly affected by leaf loss due to downy mildew.