2000 Volume 69 Issue 6 Pages 758-763
Fifteen cultivars of sweet pea (Larthyrus odoratus L.) and one of everlasting pea (Lathyrus latifolium L.) were analysed using 12-mer Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA markers (RAPD). UPGMA clustering analysis indicated that individuals of Lathyrus odoratus L. from various collections belonged to the same cluster at 0.925 level of similarity coefficient. Lathyrus latifolium L. is supposedly an ancestor of Lathyrus odoratus but the similarity coefficient between the two is 0.352, indicating a very distant relationship. These results indicate that the sweet pea cultivars are closely related with a few polymorphic DNA patterns. However, to create new cultivars of sweet pea by crossing, one should use linkage markers for heritable characters.
