Eight grass pea lines grown in three different seasons were evaluated for the stability of seed yield, 100 seeds weight, flowering time, plant height, and biomass. Significant differences existed among years, lines, and lines years interaction for all traits except for 100 seeds weight. Two methods of multivariate analysis cluster and principal components were utilized to determine: firstly, whether a pattern existed among lines in their response across years and secondly to examine the relationships among them. In both analyses, each line was presented as a vector whose elements were given by the performance of lines in each year. The analyses used arranged the lines into groups that were differentiable in terms of performances and stability. Our results provide useful information to aid the choice of grass pea lines in the Mediterranean marginal areas.

In order to describe the phenotypic diversity in a core collection of grasspea, 47 progenies of single plants (pure lines) selected from 25 accessions were evaluated. Sixteen morpho-agronomic characters including seed 3-(b-N-oxalyl)-L-2,3 diaminopropionic acid (b-ODAP) content were studied. Univariate and multivariate analyses (principal component analysis and cluster analysis) were performed to estimate differences between progenies. Some high-yielding lines could be used directly for cultivation as new varieties and/or as parental lines in crossing programmes. Seed b-ODAP concentration varied from 0.24% to 0.64%. However, a medium to high seed b-ODAP level was recorded for most of the lines, and no significant correlation was observed between this and other morphological traits.

Long term storage of viable pollen is important for bank germplasm constitution to preserve resources that can be used in breeding programs, biotechnologies and genetic engineering. Pollen from 12 olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars was stored for 1 year in liquid nitrogen at -196°C. The morphology of pollen grains and germination rates on fresh and long term stored pollen were observed. Results on in vitro pollen germinability, both before and after cryopreservation, showed highly significant responses among the 12 cultivars. The relationship between germinability and pollen grain size did not reveal any significant relationships in both treatments. Our findings will contribute to the improvement of olive pollen preservation and lead to find a more efficient method for its long term storage, while retaining its germinability.

The phenotypic variability of 31 seed and fruit characters was examined in 54 cultivars of Ceratonia siliqua L. collected in the South of Italy. For most of the 23 continuous characters which were examined, differences among regions of provenance were significant. Frequency distributions of 8 discrete characters are also reported. Relationships among 23 continuous descriptors were analyzed by principal component analysis in order to summarize data and reduce the number of characters. By cluster analysis based upon them the material was classed in different groups; the importance of the characters and levels of similarity among groups in relation to the provenance are discussed.

The p ttern of genetic diversity in 106 f b be n ccessions from Ethiopi nd Afgh nist n w s n lysed . Eight qu ntit tive ch r cters were observed . Differences mong origins were highly signific nt for pl nt height nd yield ch r cters . Princip l component n lysis nd cluster n lysis were performed in order to scert in phenotypic simil rities between ccessions, which could be useful for s mpling in subsequent studies . A core of 21 ccessions b sed on clusters which re ssumed to represent gre t diversity w s defined .