Forage production of annual medic cultivars in Gorgan dryland farming conditions

In order to investigation forage production of annual medic Cultivars, under dryland farming conditions of Gorgan, an experiment carried out in Chaleki research station in 2003-2004. The experimental design was randomized complete block with 4 replications. Cultivars were Medicago scutellata cv.Robinson & sava, Medicago truncatula cv. Caliph & Mogul, M. sphaerocarpos cv. Orion sphere, Medicago polymorpha cv. Spinless, Medicago litoralis cv.Herald and an indigenous species (Medicago minima). Forage was harvested at %10 flowering and dry matter (DM) production was measured after shade drying. Results showed that, forage production of cultivars were significantly different (P<0.01), also Interaction of cultivars and year were significantly different (P<0.05). Forage production of Medicago scutellata cv.Robinson (2006.4 kg/ha DM) was higher than other cultivars at the first year and Medicago truncatula cv. Caliph with 2230.1 kg/ha DM was produced the highest forage yield at the second year. Based on results, Mogul and Sava during two growing seasons with sustained forage production relative to experiment conditions were more adaptable than other cultivars. The mean of Crude protein amount of Caliph (37.28 gr/mˆ2) was higher than other cultivars.