Two approaches were used to detect variability within 23 pea cultivars, Eight random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers produced 163 bands (114 polymorphic), whereas five isoenzyme systems produced 25 bands (20 polymorphic), Both methods provided good results in finger-printing and identified all cultivars tested. Genetic similarity analysis (UPGMA) gave different results from RAPD and isoenzyme data. This could reflect different properties of both marker types. These data were also analysed using the bootstrap method, which supported the idea of one common progenitor of cultivated peas.