Investigating Genetic Diversity and Correlations Between Mineral Concentration and Neurotoxin ( β -ODAP) Content in the Lathyrus Genus

Grass pea ( L.) is a nutritious legume crop well-adapted to fragile agro-ecosystems that can survive under challenging climatic conditions. The cultivation of grass pea faces stigma primarily due to the presence of - -Oxalyl- - , -diaminopropionic acid ( -ODAP), which is associated with a risk of inducing neurolathyrism upon prolonged consumption of its grains as a staple diet. The grass pea improvement program of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) aims to reduce -ODAP content to a safe level along with improving yield potential and nutritional quality of grass pea. In this study, 183 germplasm accessions representing 13 different species and 11 breeding lines were evaluated for -ODAP content based on Rao protocol and mineral concentration using ICP-OES. Significant variability was observed among the accessions for the studied traits. The results showed low -ODAP content and high mineral concentration in 25 accessions of crop wild relatives, which included , , and , with one accession IG65277 of , in addition to two lines, IG117034 and ACC1335, of having very low -ODAP content. Furthermore, some accessions of , , , , , and also showed low -ODAP content. The results showed significant positive correlations among different trait combinations, viz., K and P (r = 0.193 ***), K and Fe (r = 0.177 ***), Mn and Fe (r = 0.210 ***), Mn and Se (r = 0.137 ***), -ODAP and Mg (r = 0.158 **), and -ODAP and Ca (r = 0.140 **). , , and were identified as a great source for improving the mineral concentration and reducing -ODAP content in the cultivated grass pea.