Biofortification of pea (Pisum sativum L.): a review.

Biofortification refers to an approach to increase micronutrient concentrations in the edible parts of plants with increased bioavailability to the human population. Conventional, agronomic and transgenic breeding methods can be used to develop these biofortified crops, offering sustainable and cost-effective strategies. Pea has long been recognized as a valuable, nutritious food for the human diet, but there is a limited amount of information about it, which prevents the full micronutrient enrichment potential of this pulse crop to be reached.

Heritability and expected selection response for yield traits in blanched asparagus.

Despite the continuous breeding that has been conducted with asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) since the beginning of the last century, there is little information on parameters for predicting direct and indirect selection response. Yield traits for blanched asparagus production were studied along a two-year period in a half-sib family population planted in Zavalla, Argentina.

Estimates of heritability in a blanched asparagus population.

To estimate the heritability values of characters frequently used as selective criteria, 32 half-sib families obtained from selected plants of three populations of the asparagus variety Argenteüil were evaluated in a randomized complete block design. The following characters were measured: days to emergence of the first spear, number and diameter of spears, number of stalks, plant height and average weight. The values of realized heritability were estimated and were compared with those obtained by the parent-offspring regression method.