Legume Research
Web of Science
  • Year: 2026
  • Volume: 49
  • Issue: 6

Assessment of Morphological and Biochemical Traits in Vegetable Pea (Pisum sativum var. Hortense L.) Genotypes for Drought Tolerance in Eastern Sub-Himalayan Agroecology

  • Author:
  • Shyam Singh1, Udit Kumar1,*, Rajeev Kumar Yadav1, Neeraj1, Pramila2, Dharminder3, Sunil Kumar4
  • Total Page Count: 8
  • Page Number: 959 to 966

1Department of Horticulture, PG College of Agriculture, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur-848 125, Bihar, India

2Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay College of Horticulture and Forestry, Piprakothi, East Champaran, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur-848 125, Bihar, India

3Department of Agronomy, PG College of Agriculture, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur-848 125, Bihar, India

4Veer Kunwar Singh College of Agriculture, Bihar Agricultural University, Dumraon, Buxar-802 119, Bihar, India

*Corresponding Author: Udit Kumar, Department of Horticulture, PG College of Agriculture, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur-848 125, Bihar, India, Email: udit@rpcau.ac.in

Abstract

Due to changing climatic conditions, the growing window for peasis decreasing and also affecting the production of vegetable peas. The current study was conducted to evaluate 28 vegetable pea genotypes under normal and drought-stress conditions to identify drought-tolerant lines based on morphological and biochemical traits.

The study involves screening of pea genotypes for different morphological traits, yield, harvest index, seed yield and biochemical traits related to drought resistance in pea. The drought tolerance index (DTI) was used to identify genotypes with steady performance under stress.

Under drought stress, the nodules per plant were reduced, flowering was delayed and plant height was reduced. Pods per plant dropped, seeds per pod reduced, while root length increased from 15.3 cm to 18.9 cm under stress, thus suggesting an adaptive response. The analysis revealed that RPCAU-23-5, Kashi Udai, Arka Chaitra and KSP-110 have demonstrated significantly higher mean performance values compared to the mean under drought treatments. An increased content of Proline, catalase and peroxidase was observed, indicating involvement in drought tolerance. The result indicated that some genotypes under drought conditions can be utilised for further study and improvement.

Keywords

Biochemical, Drought, Morphological, Pea, Tolerance, Yield