Variation and association in Lathyrus species based on seed biochemical constituents

The seeds of twelve Lathyrus species were analyzed for crude protein, ODAP, ash, mineral contents and thousand seed weight. CP content varied from 20.78% in Lathyrus, to 30.92% in L. cicera. ODAP content was the most variable trait (CV= 97.81%), being highest (10.31 mg g⁻¹) in L. cicera (cultivar) and lowest (0.65 mg g⁻¹) in L. cicera (wild). This was followed by thousand seed weight (TSW) being highest in L. cicera (114.54 g) and lowest in L. Nissolia (3.45 g). These species also exhibited a reasonable variation regarding mineral contents, especially for Ca (CV= 40.29%) and Mn (CV= 40.96%). Correlation analysis, based on interspecies means indicated that ODAP was highly correlated with TSW (r = 0.762), Zinc (r= 0.732) and B (r=-0.507), while there was no significant correlation of ODAP with CP and ash contents.