Vol. 9, Issue 7, Part E (2025)

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) (2n=14) is considered an "insurance crop" due to its remarkable tolerance to drought and flood. However, its broader cultivation is limited due to its relatively low yield potential and the presence of ODAP, a neurotoxic compound that causes neurolathyrism. The research experiment was conducted to estimate genetic parameters and identify superior genotypes for higher yield and low seed ODAP content. A total of 30 lathyrus mutants, along with two standard checks (NLK-73 and Ratan), were evaluated in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications during the Rabi 2022 at the Research Farm of the Agricultural Botany Section, Shankar Nagar, College of Agriculture, Nagpur, as M₆ generation. Observations were recorded for key traits, including days to first flower, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of branches plant^-1, number of pods plant^-1, 100 seed weight, seed yield plant^-1, and seed ODAP content. The study demonstrated that the phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) exceeded the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) across all traits, underscoring the role of environmental factors in trait expression. The magnitude of GCV and PCV ranged from low to high across traits, with medium to high values observed for the number of pods plant^-1, seed yield plant^-1,100 seed weight and seed ODAP content. High heritability estimates were recorded for the number of pods plant^-1, number of branches plant^-1, 100 seed weight, and seed ODAP content. Furthermore, high genetic advance as a percentage of mean was observed for the number of pods plant^-1 and seed ODAP content. The presence of both high heritability and high genetic advance for these traits suggests that additive gene action plays a major role, indicating that selection would be an effective approach for enhancing yield and lowering ODAP content in grass pea.