A half diallel set of five- parents of pea (Pisum sativum L.) was carried out to study the inheritance of five seed quality traits in addition to the differences in protein patterns. The studied traits were evaluated, 100 green seed weight, sugar percentage, starch percentage and protein content.
The variances of SCA were higher in magnitude than those of GCA for total sugar and starch contents which indicated that dominance effects were higher than the additive effects for these characters. Both additive and dominance effects are important in controlling protein content. Meanwhile, the variance of GCA exceeded SCA by 50 fold in 100 green seed weight indicated the predominance of additive effects in the inheritance of such trait than dominance effects. The cultivars Lincoln and Victory Freezer displayed the highest significant “gi” positive values for total sugar and 100 green seed weight. Both Master B and Dwarf Gray Sugar followed by Alaska were the best combiners for starch and protein contents. Dominance effects due to specific crosses and/or epistasis were found for all studied characters. Negative and significant correlations were observed between total sugar content and each of starch and protein contents.
The electrophoretic analysis of protein profiles revealed genetic differences among the tested parents as well as between their F1 crosses. Most of these noticeable variations are the existence of high numbers of protein bands in the hybrids as compared with their parents. The relationships among the five garden pea varieties were studied using the UPGMA cluster analysis based on data recorded from their protein profiles and the four seed traits.