Genetic variation for yield, Agronomic and quality traits in different accessions of sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa)

This research was aimed to evaluate the agronomic and quality traits of sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa L.) available in the Natural Resources Gene Bank of Iran. The study was conducted in a complete randomized block design with two replications in Karaj (Alborz Iran) for two years.Forage dry matter and seed yield, plant height, number of primary and secondary branches, number of seeds per plant, 1000-seed weight, powdery mildew disease infection, and the quality traits including dry matter digestibility (DMD), crude protein (CP), water soluble carbohydrates (WSC), crude fiber (CF), Acid detergent fibre (ADF) and total ash, were measured.The results showed that the populations of 3001 (Karaj) and 8206 (Tehran) had the higher mean values for agronomic traits. Populations 3001 (Karaj), and 11815 (Khalkhal) had priority for both dry matter yield and forage quality than other populations.The result of correlation analysis showed that both dry matter yield and seed yield were positively correlated with plant height and number of primary and secondary branch.Crude protein was positively correlated with seed yield, number of seed per plant, DMD and total ash and negatively correlated with ADF and CF.In principal component analysis, the first three components accounted for 50% of total variation among the populations. The contributions of the first to the third components were 23%, 17%, and 11%, respectively.This classification was in agreement with the classification of populations based on first two components. In cluster analysis, the populations were classified into four groups in a Euclidean distance of 18.5. The members of each group had the same traits.