Evaluation some Forage Legumes in Limited Irrigation Condition

Forage legumes respond differently to limited irrigation regimes. Their evaluation may, thus, help to select drought tolerant types for limited irrigation conditions. In this study four type of forage legume were studied for two years in Tikma-Dash Research Station of East Azarbaijan Agricultural and Natural Research Center, Tabriz, Iran, in a randomized complete block design using split-plot experiment in 2011-2013 years. Irrigation regimes (without irrigation, one irrigation and two irrigations) were assigned to main plots and four forage types (hairy vetch, grass pea, Pannonica sativa and lathyrus) were assigned to subplots. The results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of irrigation on plant height, number of shoots, leaf area and plant fresh and dry weights were not significant. Howere, legume types affected these traits significantly (P≤0.01). The effect of irrigation levels and legume types on protein content of hay were significant (P<0.01). The effects of year and legume type were also significant as to fresh and dry yield of forages. However irrigation, year× irrigation and irrigation× legume type interactions were not significant. Interaction effect of year × legume type was significant (P≤0.01). It seems that under the environmental conditions of this research, differences between no irrigation treatment and irrigation treatments were non significant. Considering the results of variance analysis for all quantitative traits measured and crude protein percentages in fresh and dry forage types and yield hairy vetch and lathyrus can be considered a promising type to introduce for dry lands.