Souhair Habib*1,2, Saleh Qabili 2 and Nizar Moualla
1 General Commission for the Administration and Development of Al-Ghab, Hama , Syria.
2Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Lattakia University, Lattakia, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Souhair Habib, E-Mail: souhairhabib90@gmail.com, Tel:0096985906233 ).
Received: 25/ 09/ 2025 Accepted: 14/ 12/ 2025
Abstract
The study was conducted during the years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 on six vetch species (L. aphaca, L. blepharicarpus, L. digitatus, L. gorgoni, L. hierosolymitanus, and L. nissolia) which are widespread in different locations of Al-Ghab region, Syria, to evaluate the morphological and chemical diversity of these species. The results revealed significant morphological and productive variation in some of the studied traits such as plant height, number of branches/plant, number of leaves/plant, number of pods/plant, number of seeds per pod, and 100 seed weight as well as in chemical traits (protein, sugar, and phenol content in seeds) both among species and across different sites. The species L. aphaca exhibited the highest values for traits such as number of pods, while L. blepharicarpus outperformed others in 100-seed weight. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that the first two components together explained 90% of the total variation. The first component (70.76%) was associated with vegetative growth traits (such as number of leaves and plant height), while the second component (20.01%) was linked to productivity and biomass traits (such as fresh and dry plant weight). These results underscore the importance of wild Lathyrus types as valuable genetic resources for resilience to harsh environmental conditions and for improving productivity.
Keywords:Lathyrus, Morphological characteristics, Chemical composition, Principal component analysis (PCA).
Full paper in Arabic: PDF