Determination of yield and quality characteristics of local alfalfa genotypes cultivated in semi-arid conditions of Türkiye

Alfalfa is a field crop that can produce more protein per hectare than many other field crops. In order to be successful in alfalfa cultivation, varieties that are resistant to winter conditions, diseases and pests and have high yield characteristics should be preferred. In this study, seeds of six local genotypes were collected from farmers cultivating alfalfa in the Muş province of the semi-arid Eastern Anatolia Region. The field trial of this study, in which six local genotypes were compared with four registered varieties, was established in Bingöl province in 2016 with three replications according to the coincidence blocks experimental design. In the study, some yield (green forage and dry matter yields) and quality traits (crude protein ratio, crude protein yield, ADF, NDF, digestible dry matter and relative feed value) of ten genotypes were analyzed for three years (2016, 2017 and 2018). As a result of the research, 68.57 t ha-1 green forage yield, 24.07 t ha-1 dry matter yield, 23.1% crude protein rate, 5.50 t ha-1 crude protein yield, 24.3% ADF rate, 39.0% NDF rate, 70.0% digestible dry matter rate and 172.2 relative feed value were obtained from the genotypes. Sungu-3 and Varto genotypes, together with the registered varieties Elçi, Nimet, Verko and Ömerbey, gave the highest green forage yield, dry matter yield and crude protein yield. While there was no statistically significant difference between the genotypes in terms of crude protein ratio, it was observed that the registered varieties gave better results in terms of ADF, NDF and digestible dry matter ratios and relative feed value. It is foreseen that Sungu-3 and Varto varieties can be preferred and can be used as starting material in the breeding programs to be carried out since they give results close to the registered varieties in terms of yield characteristics.