Influence of leaf architecture on morpho-phenological and yield related traits of garden pea

Abstract

Plant leaf fixes the atmospheric carbon dioxide and controls the yield performance of a crop plant. Variation in leaf morphology correlates to the growth performances across the species. Garden pea (Pisum sativum L. ssp. hortense), having multi-foliate leaves, serves as a model for studying the leaf morphology due to the complex genetic and epigenetic regulation of the trait found in this species. We assessed the effect of three different leaf morphology- normal leaf (NL), semi-leafless (SL), and leafless (LL) on the morpho-phenological and yield-attributing traits in twenty genotypes of garden pea. It was found that leafless type had excellent standing ability and open canopy, while yield and yield related traits were highly correlated and superior in normal leaf type. The positive correlation between number of pods per plant and seeds per pod, pod length with pod yield indicates that these traits are the main components for yield contribution of three different leaf morphology of pea genotype. Principal component analysis (PCA) grouped the genotypes having a better standing ability, maturity time and yield performance in distinct class.