Sarsabz: A New High Yielding, Well Adapted Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Variety

Sarsabz, a high yielding, well adapted and bold-seeded pea variety was evolved by hybridizingtwo varieties Meteor and Lampo at Vegetable Research Institute, Faisalabad Pakistan. The variety was testedin replicated varietal/ station yield trials and multi-locational trials from 2001 to 2014. Sarsabz gave highergreen pod yield (8.52 t/ha) than existing pea varieties i.e. Pea-2009 (7.51 t/ha) and Meteor (6.86 t/ha) andClimax (6.94 t/ha) on average basis. It yielded 13 % more than better check (Pea-2009). The most distinguishingtrait of this variety is its greater pod width (2.04 cm) than Pea-2009 (1.87 cm), Meteor (1.59 cm)and Climax (1.61 cm) and more No. of pods per plant. Sarsabz is 27 days earlier in pod bearing than Climaxand five days than Pea-2009. It is suitable for early planting (mid of October) as well as for normal planting(Mid of November). Its seed is light green, round and bold and its average 100-fresh seed weight is 67.62 gwhich is greater than Climax (48.4 g), Pea-2009 (67 g) and Meteor (44.18 g). This variety/line has the abilityto tolerate against root rot and powdery mildew diseases of pea crop. The newly approved variety has potentialto moderately resist to collar rot disease as compared with all other existing varieties. Studies on organolepticcharacteristics showed that Sarsabz is less sweet in taste than Pea-2009, suitable for all types of dishes. Thisvariety was approved by Punjab Seed Council and its seed is available for dissemination.