PRELIMINARY RESULTS ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME GARDEN PEA ACCESSIONS BRED AT VEGETABLE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT STATION BUZAU, ROMANIA

Pisum sativum belongs to Fabaceae family and is especially appreciated for its nutritional qualities. According to FAO statistics from 2019, in the world green peas are cultivated on relatively large areas. The highest yield of world production was obtained in Asia followed by Europe and USA with lower percentage. In Romania, only 2430 ha of garden peas are cultivated and the assortment of cultivars is quite limited. At VRDS Buzau, a breeding program has started and currently 15 stable accessions are being studied. This study presents preliminary results on the behaviour of improved accession. According to UPOV descriptors, it was observed that the accessions show distinct phenotypic expressiveness, with types of flowers varying from white to pink, with pods having a length ranging from 6.43 to 13.4 cm and weight of 10 pods differs from 41.8 to 84.8 g. The coefficient of variations exceeds 35%, which indicates that there is a large variability among studied accessions. The study will continue with selection work of genotypes that have distinct results and high ecological plasticity.