Comparison of forage yields of 5 annual medics in Gorgan region

For introduction of high forage yielding annual medics in Gorgan plain, three introduced species of Medicago scutellata, Medicago truncatula, Medicago littoralis and two native species of Medicago orbicularis and Medicago polymorpha were investigated for three years in Araghi- mahaleh research station of Gorgan region. A randomised complete block design with four replications was applied.The results showed that the forage yields of the investigated species differed during years of trial due to climatic flactuations and genetical properties. The cool and moisture sencetive species could produce more forages in rainy and warm winters. The drought and cool tolerant species such as M.littoralis had more stable forage yield in fluctuated rainfall and temperature conditions. generally,M.scutellata yielded 2083 kg/ha, while M.polymorpha, M. truncatula, M. orbicularis and M. littoralis produced 1487, 1257.2, 1076 and 979 kg/ha forages respectively.