Quantitative Trait Loci Associated to Drought Adaptation in Pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important grain legume whose yield stability and production is constrained by drought stress in most environments. However, little is known on availability of drought adaptation sources and its genetic control in pea. The aim of this work was to study the genetic of drought adaptation in pea and identify the genomic regions controlling the trait. Towards this objective, in this work, we assessed drought symptoms and relative water content in soil (RWCS) and leaves (RWCL) along a time course of water stress on a pea Recombinant Inbreed Lines (RILs) population from two parents known to segregate for drought adaptation. Drought adaptation in this population was a quantitative trait. QTL analysis using composite interval mapping (CIM) and multiple interval mapping (MIM) allowed us to identify ten quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with the traits explaining individually from 9 to 33 % of the phenotypic variation depending on the variable assessed and altogether from 20 to 57 %. A set of reproducible markers linked to these QTLs (A6, AA175, AC74, AD57, AB141, AB64, Psblox2, PsAAP2_SNP4, and DipeptIV_SNP1) were identified. These markers can be used to select the individuals harbouring the desired QTLs in pea breeding programs for drought adaptation.

This work was supported by EU project FP7-KBBE2013.1.2-02-613551 “LEGATO”.