Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) is a less common and nearly forgotten crop in many
countries, including Slovenia and Serbia. In the present study, genetic analysis and
seed characteristics of the collection of 22 grass pea accessions from several
Southeast European plant gene banks were examined. The collection was produced
in an open-field experiment at two countries/locations, i.e. Slovenia/Ljubljana –
Jablje and Serbia/Novi Sad – Rimski Šančevi, during the 2019 growing season. For
analysis of genetic diversity, specific high polymorphic SSR markers were applied.
Initial screening at 12 species-specific SSR loci using binary data revealed a great
genetic diversity among the grass pea accessions within a collection and three genetic
groups were formed. Differences in seed size were measured using descriptors for
seed length, width and thickness, and 100-seed weight. Furthermore, several seed
colour characters using IBPGR descriptors were visually assessed. The average seed
length, width and thickness of the seeds in the collection were 9.0 mm, 8.3 mm and
5.4 mm, respectively, while 100-seed weight ranged considerably from 11.7 g to
38.9 g. The highest differences between growing location were seen for 100-seed
weight where the coefficient of variability reached 23.5%. The examined grass pea
accessions had less monochromatic (one colour) and more colourful seeds, with two
or three colours