Quality and Mineral Elements Contents of Trifolium spp. Ecotypes Collected from Eastern Anatolia (Türkiye)

The flora of Turkey is rich plant species but there is less known about some species. Hence, there is need to determine species properties and their forage potentials for animal feeding. The objective of this study was determine to 14 different Trifolium species (T. ambiguum, T. bullatum, T. campestre, T. cherleri, T. dasyurum, T. echinatum, T. grandiflorum, T. hirtum, T. nigrescens, T. pauciflorum, T. resupinatum, T. spumosum, T. stellatum and T. tomentosum) that taken from natural habitats during the flowering period of the plants by cutting from the root collar of the plants from 12 different locations. The differences between Trifolium genotypes were found to be statistically very significant for all the examined traits. Crude protein (CP), Dry matter (DM), acid detergent insoluble fiber (ADF), neutral detergent insoluble fiber (NDF), acid detergent insoluble protein (ADP), digestible dry matter (DDM), dry matter intake (DMI), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) ratios and relative feed values (RFV), Ca/P and K/(Ca+Mg) values varied between 12.02-25.54%, 90.25-96.56%, 11.61-35.26%, 27.27-47.82%, 0.47-1.24%, 61.43-79.87%, 2.51-4.40%, 1.41-2.19%, 0.26-0.43%, 0.31-0.50%, 1.19-3.65%, 119.66-268.62, 3.24-6.09 and 0.56-1.97, respectively. Among the Trifolium species collected from different locations examined in the research, genotype number 25 (Trifolium tomentosum) stood out with high CP, DM, DDM, DMI and RFV values and low ADF and NDF ratios. Genotype number 17 (Trifolium nigrescens subsp. petrisavii) in terms of the same characteristics followed this genotype. While genotypes number 1 (Trifolium ambiguum), 16 (Trifolium nigrescens subsp. petrisavii) and 21 (Trifolium resupinatum var. resupinatum) stood out with high K values, genotypes number 25 (Trifolium tomentosum), 9 (Trifolium cherleri) and 21 (Trifolium resupinatum var. resupinatum) stood out with high Ca, Mg and P values, respectively. Among the Trifolium species examined, the best genotypes in terms of yield and quality were genotypes number 17 (Trifolium nigrescens subsp. petrisavii) and 25 (Trifolium tomentosum).