Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.7 (2), April 2009 357 Determination of some agronomical and quality properties of wild alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) clones in Turkey Mehmet Basbag 1 *, Ramazan Demirel 2 and Mustafa Avci 3 1 Department of Field Crops, 2 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Dicle University, Diyarbakir, Turkey. 3 Department of Field Crops, Agricultural Research Institute of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey. *e-mail: mbasbag@dicle.edu.tr Received 4 January 2009, accepted 18 April 2009. Abstract This research was carried out to determine some agronomical and quality properties of alfalfa clones in Turkey. Research material included 11 alfalfa clones, collected from Southeastern and Eastern Regions of Turkey and syn D U (as control). There were statistically significant differences among alfalfa clones for all agronomical properties which were investigated (P0.01). At the end of research, agronomical properties of alfalfa clones ranged for plant height 43.2-73.2 cm, leaf width 4.33-14.21 mm, leaf length 13.58-30.03 mm, stem thickness 1.86-4.76 mm, green herbage yield 108.3-258 g plant -1 and dry herbage yield 21.7-56.6 g plant -1 . Quality properties of alfalfa clones ranged for acid detergent fiber (ADF) 16.8- 33.3%, digestible dry matter (DDM) 63.0-75.8%, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) 20.3-35.2%, crude ash 8.0-18.6% and crude protein 17.3-23.2%. Key words: Alfalfa, Medicago sativa, clones, agronomical characters, quality properties. www.world-food.net Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment Vol.7 (2) : 357-359. 2009 WFL Publisher Science and Technology Meri-Rastilantie 3 B, FI-00980 Helsinki, Finland e-mail: info@world-food.net Introduction Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is one of the most cropping legume forage crops in the world, and it is considered the “Queen of Forages”. There are 83 wild Medicago taxa and 6 Medicago sativa subspecies in the world. Thirty of them are also found in Turkey 1 . Alfalfa is the most important legume forage crop among all legume crops. Alfalfa is planted on aproximately 15.2 million ha in the world, average world forage yield is 28,664 kg ha -1 and total production quantity 436 million tons 3 . In previous studies, agronomical characters and quality properties of alfalfa ranged as follows: green herbage yield 16,139- 99,060 kg ha -1 , dry herbage yield 7,666-25,990 kg ha -1 , dry matter yield 5,070-25,370 kg ha -1 , plant height 21.7-108.0 cm, crude protein 12.34-24.25%, acid detergent fiber (ADF) 23.7-61.3%, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) 31.8-72.58% and crude ash 9.89-10.2 % 4-21 . This research was carried out to determine some agronomical and quality properties of alfalfa clones in Turkey. Materials and Methods Research materials (Medicago sativa L.) were collected from Southeastern and Eastern Regions of Turkey (Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Gaziantep, Mardin, Bingol, Elazig and Malatya provinces) from natural vegetation areas in 2007 (Fig. 1). Control material (Clone 12) was taken from synthetic variety named Syn DÜ-01 which registration procedure is going on at Faculty of Agriculture, Dicle University. Each plant was divided into 20 clones and planted in greenhouse. After that these clones were planted in research area in 30 cm inter and intra rows, as 2 lines in 3 m long plots. Ten clones of each plot were selected as randomised experimental material, and agronomical characters were observed. This research was carried out at Dicle University in Diyarbakir (37 o 53 ’ 22.1’’N, 40 o 16’27.1’’E and altitude 655 m). Generally, Mediterranean and East Anatolian continental climates are dominant in this region. The average annual temperature is 15.8 o C, rainfall 481.6 mm and the average relative humidity about 53.8%. The average temperature can reach 30 o C in July and August. The lowest average temperature can be 7 o C in December and January. The earliest frost in the region is usually at the end of October and the last frost around end of April. Most rain falls in winter, and there is almost no : 1. Center/Diyarbakir; 2. Ergani/Diyarbakir; 3. Dicle/Diyarbakir; 4. Cungus/Diyarbakir; 5. Sultansehmus/Mardin; 6. Omerli/Mardin; 7. Ceylanpinar/Sanliurfa; 8. Center/Gaziantep; 9. Genc/Bingöl; 10. Center/Elazig; 11. Center/Malatya. Figure 1. Alfalfa clone’s origines in Turkey.