Heritability of seed weight in an inbred population of large-seeded Lathyrus sativus

Introduction The grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) cultivated in Chile has a large, mostly clear white, grain. It is valued by European communities as the basis for the preparation of traditional dishes. Small Chilean farmers are exporting grass pea to these markets, which pay higher prices for larger seed. However, the size of the grain currently being produced is quite heterogeneous, and the export grain is produced after severe sorting of the harvested grain. A short-term project is underway , which aims to improve crop management and grain quality, particularly seed diameter. This preliminary work provides an estimate on how much of the observed variation for seed weight in a local grass pea population has a genetic basis. Seed mass appears to be a reasonably good estimator of seed diameter .