Investigation of genetic variation between alfalfa (Medicago Sativa) PoPulations

To investigate genetic variation between lucern (M Sativa) germplasm, 25 cultivars of the species were studied in a randomized coplete block design in three replications in 1996. Fourteen characters were recorded on the plants of each plot. Regarding analysis of variance, significant differences were found between the cultivars at 5% and 1% levels of probability. In other words, the cultivars were different for the studied characters except for the lenght of main stem of first cut, the lateral stem length of first cut, dry matter yield of first cut, the main stem diameter, growth type and the main stem length of second cut. Regarding dry matter yeild of first and second cut, Bami was the best cultivar. This cultivar also located in a distinct class based on the Duncan classification method. UPGMA cluster analysis divided the cultivars into six groups by cophenetic coefficient of 84%. The cultivars Bami (20319) and 2421 each located in a separate group. Although cluster analysis based on the significant characters divided the cultivars into five groups, the results were similar to the previous classification, so that the cultivar number 20319 (Bami) located in a separate group. Cophenetic coefficient was 82% in this analysis, implying a good fitness of the clustering method.