DETERMINATION OF SOME MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS AND FORAGE YIELD OF VETCH (Vicia sp.) GENOTYPES COLLECTED FROM THRACE REGION OF TURKEY

Alp Kayahan Demirkan 1 , Ilker Nizam 1 , Adnan Orak 1 , Canan Şen 1 , Hazım Serkan Tenikecier 1 , Necmettin Güler 2 and Hüseyin Ersoy 2 . 1. Tekirdag Namik Kemal University, Faculty of Agricultural, Field Crops Department. 2. Trakya University, Faculty of Science, Biology Department. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 03 September 2018 Final Accepted: 05 October 2018 Published: November 2018


ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 6(11), 276-283 277 Vetch species have been adapted to temperate climatic conditions. Average 300-500 mm rainfall areas are rich in vetch species (Kernick, 1978;Siddique, 2005). They need a cool season for good development. Their maturation is the end of spring and early summer. There are significant differences in terms of resistance to winter. The most resistant to cold is hairy vetch. It is known that the species with the highest rate of winter after the hairy vetch are Hungarian vetch and narbon vetch.
Vetch is important as a source for forage production, soil improver, green manure, silage and wild animals. They are also used in roadside erosion control. Especially, Vicia ervilia Wild., V. narbonensis L., V. sativa L., V. benghalensis L. and V. articulata Hornem. seeds are used in animal feed by adding to feed rations (Lopez Bellido, 1994;Enneking et. al., 1995;Jose Esteban, 1996). Most of the cultivated vetch varieties for forage production (V. ervilia, V. narbonensis, V. sativa) is traditionally involved in rations (Lopez Bellido, 1994). Usually it is cultivated with cereals such as barley and oats. It has been reported that hairy vetch is preferred as green manure plant and used as mulch material in tomato cultivation (Abdul-Baki et al., 1997). Annual wild vetch species with their rapid development, adaptability and high nutritional value can contribute to the vegetation of the existing pastures as well as in the planting of short-term rotation pastures. Wild vetch species, where hard seed rate is high, are easily propagated around the seeds with the cracking of the fruits ripened in the period when the plant is green. In this regard, it is important to develop new vetch agriculturally and economically.
In this study, it was aimed to determine some morphological characteristics and fresh forage yields of different vetch genotypes grown in field conditions by collecting from natural flora of Thrace Region. . Long year average temperature, total rainfall and relative humidity were 11.7 0 C, 529.7 mm and 80 %, respectively, during growing period in Tekirdag (Table 1). Total rainfall of experiment year was lower than that of long years with 388.6 mm. Therefore, average temperature in 2015-2016 was 13.37 0 C. This tempeture over 1,67 o C from long year average tempeture. Relative humidity was 78.4 %. During the experiment period, the climate was hot and dry from the long years averages.
Sowing were made by hand on 3 November 2015. Twenty seeds of each genotypes were sown into a single row (5 m) at 0.5 m intervals. The plant height was determined by measuring the length from the ground level to the top of the main branch. The stem diameter was determined by measuring the third internode from the bottom of the main stem.The leaflet width and length were measured by the second leaflet of the leaf in the third node of the main stem. Plants were harvested at 50 % flowering time and weighed for fresh forage yield(g/plant). Fresh sample was taken from the harvested material, dried in the shade and weighed. Hay yield was calculated as dry weight percentage. An analysis of variance was carried out on the data set using SPSS 18.0 according to completely randomized experimental design. Significant differences among the mean values were compared by DUNCAN test. 278

Result and Discussion:-
Results of stem diameter, leaflet length, leaflet width, plant height, fresh forage yield and dry forage yield of seventy four vetch genotypes were discussed in this session.

Stem diameter
Statistically significant differences (P <0.01) were found between the stem diameters of the vetch genotypes ( Table  2)

Leaflet width and length
Differences between vetch genotypes were statistically significant (P <0.01) in leaf width and length ( Table 2).
The leaflet width values of the vetch genotypes ranged from 1,10 to 11,4 mm. The widest leaflet width in the vetch genotypes was found at genotype 15-6 (V. sativa L.) with 11,4 mm. This genotype was followed by genotype 15

Plant height
There were statistically significant differences (P <0.01) in plant height among the vetch genotypes used in the study ( Table 3). The plant height values of vetch genotypes used in the experiment vary between 14,00 -129,00 cm. The longest plant height was found at genotype 14N64 (V. sativa L.) with 129 cm. The shortest plant height was determined as 14 cm at genotype 15F20 (V. sativa L.