A study on the determination of the morphological, Yield and quality characteristics of some sainfoin species (Onobrychis spp.) native to East Anatolia

Objective of the present study is to identify the species belonging to the genus Onobrychis (Fabaceae) growing native in and around Erzurum, and to determine their overall prevalence and morphological and quality characteristics. Species samples were collected from different locations in flowering periods of 2007, 2008 and 2009. At the end of the study, totally 10 genotypes were found representing 8 species and 2 sub-species. It was found that leaf length and leaflet frequency were the largest in O. atropatana var. grandiflora, the number of leaflets was the highest in O. viciifolia, the length and width of leaflets were maximum in O. radiata, the number of main branches and the number of fascicles in main branches were in O. hajastana, crude ash rate was highest in O. stenostachya, plant fresh and dry weight, ADF and NDF rate were highest in O. cornuta, where as crude protein rate was slightly higher in O. stenostachya subsp. sosnowskyi than other taxa.