Evaluation location: Texas, United States
Many of the accessions in the Pisum Core Collection are mixtures of diverse germplasm. Because we were interested in characterizing mineral concentrations in unique lines, we randomly selected seeds of a single seed phenotype within each accession for planting. For the most part, this resulted in plants with uniform characteristics, within each planted accession. At harvest, if more than one plant phenotype was evident, we selected seeds from only one plant phenotype (usually the phenotype with the most plants, or the highest seed yield). We also ensured that its seeds were of the same phenotype as the original seeds planted. Phenotypic data were collected on harvested seeds of each accession, and these characteristics are noted in the dataset (Seed Coat Color, Seed Coat Coloration Pattern, Smooth vs.Wrinkled Seeds, Cotyledon Color).
More information on Grusak's sampling and Experimental Design(a .doc file).