Assessment of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) germplasm for agro‐morphological traits and nutritive value

Abstract

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) is a bloat‐free, perennial forage legume adapted to the northern temperate regions of the world. This study was carried out to evaluate phenotypic variation and nutritive value of 38 sainfoin accessions from 21 different countries. A field trial was established in 2014 using a randomized complete block design with four replications near Saskatoon, Canada, with data collected in 2015 and 2016. Analysis of variance revealed significant (p < 0.05) differences among sainfoin accessions for winter survival, dry‐matter (DM) yield, regrowth per seed yield plant, 1,000‐seed weight, plant height, growth rate, spring vigour, days to flower, stem number, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF). Dry‐matter yield of sainfoin accessions ranged from 74 to 239 g/plant, plant height ranged from 37 to 70 cm, winter survival ranged from 20% to 94%, and seed yield ranged from 5 to 64 g/plant. Sainfoin accessions from North America produced the highest DM yield. Dry‐matter yield was positively correlated with plant height (r = 0.82), stem number (r = 0.75), growth rate (r = 0.72), spring vigour (r = 0.43), regrowth (r = 0.30), 1,000‐seed weight (r = 0.29), NDF (r = 0.71) and ADF (r = 0.74). Dry‐matter yield was negatively correlated with days to flower (r = −0.57) and CP concentration (r = −0.62). Sainfoin accessions were grouped into three main groups according to their agro‐morphological traits and nutritive value. Several promising sainfoin accessions have been identified to select for high forage yield and high winter survival in the cold climatic zone of temperate grassland.

Assessment of diverse cicer milkvetch (Astragalus cicer L.) germplasm for agro-morphological traits under a stockpiling system

“…This study found a high degree of diversity for agromorphological traits among the cicer milkvetch populations except for leaf number per stem at the first harvest. The high interpopulation variability found in our study was also seen in the agronomic and morphological traits of other perennial species, including alfalfa (Jenczewski et al 1998;Li et al 2009), sainfoin (Delgado et al 2008;Jafari et al 2014;Bhattarai et al 2018), and crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.) (Tandoh et al 2019).…”

“…The diversity within germplasm collections of alfalfa (Jenczewski et al 1998;Li et al 2009) and sainfoin (Onobychis viciifolia Scop.) (Delgado et al 2008;Jafari et al 2014;Bhattarai et al 2018) has been studied extensively. These studies have shown that plant height (Li et al 2009;Bhattarai et al 2018), stem number per plant (Jafari et al 2014;Bhattarai et al 2018), and the presence of rhizomes (Jenczewski et al 1998) can differentiate populations within germplasm collections for these two species.…”

Development of polymorphic EST-SSR markers and characterization of the autotetraploid genome of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia)

“…It does not cause bloat in grazing animals, and can provide palatable, high-quality forage (Bhattarai, Coulman & Biligetu, 2016; Frame, 2005). Sainfoin contains high levels of condensed tannins that sainfoin has shown to reduce parasites in the ruminant digestive tract and provide environmental benefits by reducing methane emissions from ruminant animals (Malisch et al, 2015; Sottie et al, 2014; Bhattarai et al, 2018).…”

Construction of Tissue Culture System of Onobrychis viciaefolia Scop ‘Mengnong’ Anthers

“…Bhattarai et al studied 38 Onobrychis viciaefolia Scop. materials from 21 different countries and concluded that the dry matter yield of these materials ranged from 74 to 239 g/plant (Bhattarai et al 2018). This suggests that plant genotype and environment have an effect on yield and breeding efforts to improve this plant will be helpful for the future growth of the forage industry.…”