A Study on Morphological and Agronomic Traits of Sainfoin Populations (Onobrychis sativa Scop.) in Semi-Arid Conditions

Plant species belonging to the leguminous family are very important for the quality and quantity of rangelands in semiarid regions. New varieties should be developed from the delicious, long-lasting, and high-quality plant species in this family for our rangelands that have rapidly deteriorated due to mismanagement. For this reason, sainfoin breeding study was initiated to develop new cultivars. In the first period, the seven collected sainfoin populations from the rangeland areas of the Central and Eastern Anatolia Regions were planted with control cultivars, Özerbey-03 and Lütfibey, in a nursery plot at the research station located in the Gölbaşı district of Ankara in 2015. At the initiating period of this breeding study (in 2016 and 2017), morphological (plant height, stem diameter, and stem number) and agronomic traits (fresh forage and dry forage yields) were determined. According to the obtained results, The L-1787 had the highest values in plant height, fresh forage, and dry forage yields of all populations. Moreover, among all populations, L-1747 had the lowest fresh forage and dry forage yield. The L-1781 had the highest stem number, while Lütfibey had the lowest. The Özerbey-03 and L-1781 had the thickest stems. L-1781, L-1787 anwd L-1788 populations exhibited higher fresh and dry feed yield due to higher stem number and larger stem diameter compared to control varieties. These populations can also be utilized for future breeding studies to develop new cultivars. Additionally, the methods of Cluster Analysis and Principal Component Analysis were used to identify similar traits and their similarity levels.