Collection and determination of morphological traits of sainfoin (Onobrychis sativa L.) populations from Antalya natural flora

Abstract

One of the most important and prior subjects in forage breeding programmes is to cultivate the wild forms of plants. In the present study; the seeds of sainfoin wild forms which are available within Antalya natural flora were collected between 2008-2011. Collected seeds were sown and between 2012-2013 years morphological traits were recorded. According to the data results of 25 populations of the sainfoin species that collected from different sites; number of days to the flowering varied between 153-159 and the number of days to the physiological maturity were 165-192 days. The color of flower was observed as purple and pink. Plant height was found as 29-98 cm. One thousand seeds weight were determined as 20-29 g. The number of flowers in the raceme changed between 12-38 while, the number of seed in the fruit changed between 2-3. It can be said that there was a wide genetic variation in terms of morphological traits. The collected genetic material can be evaluated to develop sainfoin varieties in the future breeding studies.

Keywords

• Natural flora
• Sainfoin
• Onobrychis sativa L.
• Morphological traits
• Seed collection