Genetic Diversity in Some Characteristics of Iranian Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graceum L.)

Fenugreek is an annual plant belonging to Legominosae family with a long history of farming in Iran. There exists various accessions of this plant in Iran; however, no comprehensive study to fully understand it has ever been carried out. Twenty populations of fenugreek native to Iran were collected from different parts of the country to asses the genetic variability of the plant and study some of their features. The results suggest that there are significant differences in most of traits under study. The wet weight ranged between 23.93 and 44.41 grams of the wet weight per plant. Moreover, the accessions, were classified with regard to the flowering features into 3 categories of early blooming, inter blooming, and late blooming. The results also showed that the accessions started to produce flower within 39 to 76 days of plantation. The index of one thousand seed weight also showed meaningful differences ranging from a low of 5.56 grams in Semnan mass to a high of 19.44 grams in Kermanshah accession. The analysis of ploid level of the accessions native to Iran revealed that all the masses under study were diploid (2n=2x=16). Finally the results show that the native masses of Iranian Fenugreek enjoy high diversity regarding the features under study and make suitable genetic resource for breeding programs.