Study of physiologic traits and forage yield of five annual medic species in irrigation conditions

In order to study yield and physiological traits of five annual medic species namely M. rigidula, M. turbinata, M. orbicularis, M. radiata and M. minima under irrigated conditions, a field study was conducted based on a complete randomized block design with three replications in Islamabad-Gharb station, Kermanshah, Iran. Water requirement estimated by Penman-Monetith method and CROPWAT package using local climatological data based on 90% of irrigation efficiency. Data analysis showed a significant difference (P<0.05) between the species for leaf water content, relative water content, growth period, forage yield and plant height traits. In contrast, there were no significance differences for leaf stem ratio, stems per plant and chlorophyll fluoresce. M. rigidula showed better performance for majority of the traits, especially forage yield, followed by, M. orbicularis and M. minima. M. turbinata and M. radiata had lowest forage yield and field performance. Cluster analysis of the data by Ward method confirmed results of the data analysis. There was a positive significant correlation coefficient between relative water content and growth period with forage yield at 1% probability. Plant height and chlorophyll fluoresce showed positive and significant correlation with forage yield at 5% probability. Finally, according to the results, M. rigidula is recommendable for forage production under irrigated condition of the province.