Investigation of Morphological and Agronomic Characteristics of Some Wild Sainfoin Species

The present study was conducted to investigate biological and morphological characteristics trefoil species of Onobrychis caput–galli, Onobrychis gracilis, Onobrychis oxyodonta sampled from natural pastures of Canakkale. A total of 50 plants were sampled for each species. Results revealed a broad variation between morphological and agronomic characteristics of all three species. Significant correlations were found between plant lenght, main shoot number, main shoot volume, main shoot leaves, main shoot and dry matter yield of the origin sites. This study revealed enough variation among populations to initiate a selection programme for pasture improvement of Marmara region, where the three species are well adapted. Among the species, Onobrychis oxyodonta was especially prominent with its perennial characteristics and non–thorny seeds.