Evaluación de rasgos morfológicos y de rendimiento en las poblaciones de Vicia spp.

The study was focused on estimation of genotypic variation for the morphological and forage yield traits of some vetch genotypes to assess their breeding potential. A small-plot trial was carried out in 2018-2020 at the experimental field of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Alborz province, Iran. Fifty eight (58) vetch genotypes of Vicia spp. from the natural resources gene bank of Iran, were tested. There was significant (P<0.01) genotypic variation among populations, for all the traits measured. V.monantha (32845) produced high plant and large pods, while V. villosa (322) produced more biomass than other accessions. In the shorter growing seasons, the earliness of V. sativa var.angustifollia (4740,7243), V. sativa var.stenophylla (1862), V. villosa (315, 322) resulted in high seed yield. The principal component analysis showed that the variations observed were mainly caused by traits such as days to flowering and seed ripening and seed traits, that their contribution was important in discriminating the populations. Direct selection can also be made for the populations with high biomass yield based on the recorded performance of these populations during the field experiments. A cluster analysis of the tested vetch populations based on measured traits, at 11.49 genetic distance, created five main groups that showed the similarity of members of each group. Generally, vetch species and their populations had different growth features, phenology, forage and seed productivity. The generated information in this study gives a base for genetics variety of genus Vicia L. and could be useful for including in the future breeding programs.