The comparison of qualitative and quantitative yield of annual forage legumes in autumn cultivation

this study was conducted in order to identify annual forage legumes suitable for autumn cultivation in terms of forage yield and quality can be an approach to provide forage.

The experiment was conducted conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in four locations in Karaj, Gorgan, Mazandaran and Lorestan for two years. Six types of forage legumes including faba bean, grass pea ( (local cultivar), common vetch (Lamei cultivar), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) (local cultivar), hungarian vetch (an external cultivar) and fodder green pea (Pisum sativum) (two cultivars) were evaluated in terms of quantitative traits of fresh, dry forage yield. These legumes also were evaluated in terms of forage quality in Alborz for one year.

The means of four locations and two years of experiments showed that hairy vetch produced the highest amount of fresh and dry forage yield among studied crops except faba beans. Among faba bean cultivars, Shadan cultivar and Barakat had the highest of fresh and dry forage yield and the lowest of fresh and dry forage belonged to grass pea. Also, study of forage quality characteristics showed that the highest digestible dry matter for Mehta faba bean cultivar, the highest crude protein content for Pioneer cultivar forage green pea and hairy vetch.

Considering the result, all investigating forage legumes have the potential to produce