Assessment of Variability for Nutritional Traits of Burr Medic (Medicago polymorpha L.) Genotypes with Different Phenology

Abstract

In terms of nutritional traits, among burr medic (Medicago polymorpha L.) genotypes with different flowering time there can produce compatible genotypes to both grazing and ley farming system. Therefore, in this study, variability for nutritional traits among early- (n=13), medium- (n=12) and late-flowering (n=19) the genotypes were assessed using one-way ANOVA and some multivariate analyses. Except for the acid detergent protein, Ca and Mg contents, the nutritional traits differed statistically among the genotypes with different flowering time. The medium-flowering genotype had a significant advantage over especially early-flowering genotype in crude protein, acid detergent fibre, metabolizable energy and relative feed value. There were significantly mutual correlations between most of the studied traits. Consequently, considerable amounts of variability were determined among the genotypes for all the traits under consideration. The 44 genotypes formed three clusters, in which cluster sizes ranged from three to 29 accessions per Cluster. The principle component 1 and 2 had the highest eigen values of 6.44 and 1.35, describing 63.27% and 15.91% of the total variance, respectively. The principle component and cluster analyses results indicate that medium- and late-flowering genotypes had the best nutritional traits due to probably high photosynthetic capacity in the conditions of the present study.