Evaluation of Yield Potential and Genetic Variation of Morphological, Agronomic and Qualitative Traits in Sainfoin Populations (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.)

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) is a perennial legume widely adapted to environmental conditions and has been successfully used as a pasture and hay forage in Iran. This experiment was carried out to investigate yield potential and genetic variation of morphological, agronomic and qualitative traits using 10 Iranian sainfoin populations. The experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with four replications ON Research Farm, Isfahan University of Technology. Results indicated that there are significance differences between populations for most of the traits. The estimates of heritabilities for forage yield, number of stem per plant, number of node and qualitative traits were over 50 percent. The high phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variability for economic traits showed that a broad genetic diversity in this germplasem can be exploited in breeding programs. Significant differences were found among cuts and cut × population interaction for all characters. The third harvest produced 41.6 percent of total hay yield. Evaluation of traits related to forage quality revealed that the highest proportion of leaf to stem belong to Sarab and Oromieh populations (6.28 and 6.82, respectively). Crude protein percentage was significantly different among cultivars and Golpayegan population had the highest value for Crude protein percentage. Feridan, Khonsar and Golpayegan populations produced the highest dry matter yield in the first, second and third cut, respectively. These populations were found as the high potential accessions, which can be used as a source for agronomic and plant breeding research in the region..