Attar, the first Persian clover cultivar

The Persian clover is one of the native forage crops in Iran for which no bred cultivar has been released yet. For identification and release of the first Persian clover cultivar a series of experiments were conducted from 2000 to 2016 cropping seasons. At first, 14 Persian landraces were collected from regions with known clover cultivation in the country and then individual plants were selected from each population in 1999-2000 cropping season. In total, 176 single plants with superior forage performance were selected in this stage. In 2004-2005 cropping season, seeds from single plants were sown in rows and were compared with Haftchin local Persian clover as check. The preliminary and semifinal forage yield comparisons were conducted to evaluate dry and fresh forage yields of superior clover lines in 2006-2009 cropping season. The VCU test (Value for Cultivation and Use) of the 14 selected lines along with a local Persian clover (Haftchin) as a check was carried out in the uniform regional trials in Kermanshah, Karaj and Borujerd Research Stations. In this experiment BPC/Borujerd/81.13 line (Attar) had 2061 kgha-1 higher yield for dry matter compared to the control. Also, to evaluate response of different Persian clover germplasm to rust disease, two experiments were conducted in Borujderd and Karaj regions. The results showed that all lines as well as control (Haftchin) were relatively sensitive to the rust disease. These lines were compared with the control cultivar (Haftchin) under on-farm conditions in Borujedrd and Aleshtar regions, as the main centers of clover cultivation, in 2015-16 cropping season. The results showed that Attar with 72.99 and 11.08 tha-1 fresh and dry forage yields, respectively, showed 23.65 and 21.79% yield superiority to the control cultivar.  Furthermore, this new cultivar showed more yield stability and forage yield compared to the local cultivar. Hence, it was released with the name of "Attar" as the first Persian clover cultivar.