STUDY OF COLLECTION MATERIAL OF GRASS PEA IN THE LOWER VOLGA STEPPE ZONE

State Agrarian University, Saratov The article discusses the results of a mathematical analysis of the study, which includes 25 samples of the grass pea and 21 indicators characterizing the vegetative characteristics and biochemical composition of the grain. Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) is widely cultivated in arid conditions of southern countries for fodder and food purposes, as well as a green manure crop. A weak difference between the samples (V˂10 %) was noted in the length of the stem (53,9-78,8 cm), the length of the bean (27,8-40,8 mm). According to such features as: the height of attachment of the lower bean (13,6-20,2 cm), branching (5,9-10,3 pieces), width of the bean (9,3-15,8 mm), the sample was characterized by the coefficient of variation of the average degree. Significant differences were revealed according to the studied characteristics of variety samples (factor A). According to the factor of the year (B), there were no significant differences in characteristics: the width of the bean, the number of seeds in the bean, the weight of 1000 seeds, the ash content in the seeds. The output of gross energy with seeds in varieties of grass pea varies within 16,66–33,51 GJ/ha. The contribution of nutrients to the gross energy output was: protein – 5,88–12,31 GJ/ ha, fat – 0,18–0,64 GJ/ha, fiber – 0,79–2,13 GJ/ha, without nitrogenous extractive substances – 9,55–18,96 GJ/ha. In the experiment, a high total contribution to the overall variability of the studied traits (variety factor A) and the interaction of the genotype and year (AB) was revealed, while the effect of the year factor (B) does not exceed 7,5 %. The food and fodder directions of the use of the grass pea are due to the presence of a large amount of protein and fiber in the