AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE

www.arccjournals.com / indianjournals.comLegume Res., 36 (6) : 535 - 544, 2013

EFFECTS OF SOWING SEASON ON HERBAGE AND SEED PRODUCTION OFGRASSPEA UNDER RAINFED CONDITION OF KHORAMABAD, IRAN

Zahra Azadi 1, Ali Ashraf Jafari 2* , Shahram Nakhjavan3, Bahman Yousefvand3

and Karim Khademi 4

1Young Researchers Club, Borujerd Branch,Islamic Azad University, Borujerd, Iran

Received: 11-07-2013 Accepted: 20-09-2013

ABSTRACTIn order to study seed and dry matter (DM) yield and relationships among yield and agronomic

traits, 11 lines of grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) obtained from the International Center for AgriculturalResearch in the Dry Areas (ICCADA) were sown in two growing seasons using randomized blockdesign with three replications in autumn 2011 and spring 2012 in rainfed area of Khoramabad, Iran.Significant variation in all of traits except harvest index were observed due to sowing season. On anaverage, 9763 and 4708 kg ha-1 for DM yield and 3206 and 1423 kg ha-1 for seed yield were producedin autumn and spring sowing seasons, respectively. The lines of 449 and 387 gave good DM and seedyield, and they were introduced as improved varieties for cultivation. DM yield was positively correlatedwith straw yield and seed yield in both the sowing seasons and correlated with pods per plant, seedsper pod and pod length in spring season. Similarly, seed yield was positively correlated with strawyield, harvest index and pod number per plant for both the sowing seasons and with seeds numberper pods in spring season. The results of principle component analysis (PCA) showed that the firstfour components (PC1 to PC4) accounted for 37, 28, 10 and 8 of the total variation, respectively.DM, straw and seed yield in the PC1, seeds per pod, pod length, pods per plant, flowering date and100 seeds weight in the PC2, the pod height and stem length in the PC3 and finally the stem densityin the PC4 components were identified as the important traits. Using Ward cluster method the 11lines were grouped into 4 clusters. The lines in Cluster 1 coupled with late maturity had higherproductivity for both DM and straw yield. The lines in Cluster 2 coupled with early maturity hadhigher productivity for both DM and seed yield. Clusters 3 and 4 had low and moderate productivity,respectively.

Key words: Correlation, Cluster, Forage yield, Grasspea (Lathyrus sativus), PCA, Seed yield, Sowing seasons.

*Corresponding author’s e-mail: aajafari@rifr-ac.ir2 Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran3 Islamic Azad University, Brojerd Branch, Brojerd, Iran.4 Research center of Agriculture and Natural Resource, Khoramadad, Iran

INTRODUCTIONLathyrus (Leguminosae; Papilionoideae) is

the largest genus in tribe Vicieae and has animportance as traditional foodstuffs in many culturesworldwide (Kenicer et al., 2005). Grasspea (Lathyrussativus L.) is a diploid (2n= 14), self-pollinated andannual species (Zohary and Hopf, 1988). The centerof origin and diversification of the Lathyrus genepool is in the Mediterranean region (Zeven andZhukovsky, 1975). This species has severalecological advantages including optimal growth in

arid or semiarid environments, neutral to alkalinesoils, heavy clays, and also high resistance to manypests compared to other forage legumes (Palmer etal. 1989). Grasspea adapted to the non-tropicalsemi-arid areas of the central and west Asia, andthe North African region, where mean annual rainfallis 200–350 mm (ICARDA, 2000; Karadag et al.,2004).

At present there is little data about this nearly“forgotten” crop. In grasspea breeding programs forimproved DM yield, the knowledge of seed

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production of new varieties and its relationships withforage yield are very important. Campbell (1997)reported a wide range from 47 to 94 days for 50%flowering for India varieties and accessions. He founda range of 15 to 68 cm for plant height and range of2.4 to 59 pods per plants for the same country.Similarly, Yadov (1995) in Nepal observed 13 to 59pods per plant when 72 local accessions wereevaluated. For pod lengths, Mehra et al. (1995) intheir trial with 48 accessions from Syria found 3.6to 4.0 cm while, in Canadian accessions it rangedfrom 3.08 to 4.0 cm. Campbell (1997) reported thatpod length in Indian germplasm varied from 1.88 to5.18 cm. For seeds number per pod, Yadov (1995)from Nepal found a range of 2 to 5 seeds per pods,similarly, Campbell (1997) reported the range of 1to 4.3 in Canada germplasm and 1.6 to 4.6 seedsper pods in Indian germplasm. Somaroo (1988)recorded dry matter yield per hectare as 5707 kg ha-

1 in 1980 and 2624 kg ha-1 in 1981 at ICARDA.Hanbury et al. (1995) in Australia, reported the seedweight of 190 to 220 g/1000 seeds when 451 lineswere evaluated during 1994. In contrast, Robertsonand Abd El Moneim (1995) in their evaluation ofsmall seeded lines found 34.5 to 225.9 g/1000 seedfor 272 accessions, with a mean weight of 86.8 g.Benkova and Zakova (2001) found that the Slovakgenetic resource had the higher value of 1000 seedweight and seed yield in compared with Syriangermplasm. Robertson and Abd El Moneim (1995)in Syria found the biomass yield of 516 to 5200 kgha-1 with a mean of 2167 kg ha-1. The straw yieldranged from 440 to 3861 kg ha-1 with a mean of1720 kg ha-1. More recently, Larbi et al. (2010) inICARDA reported herbage yield of 695 to 3471 kgha-1 and 404 to 2595 kg ha-1 in area with annualtotal rainfall 283 mm and 140 mm, respectively.Obviously, all these variation in plant traits ingrasspea accessions are due to different edaphicclimatic conditions in addi tion to geneticaldifferences in the accessions.

In Iran, the semi-arid rangelands cover themajority of the terrestrial areas. Badripou et al.(2006) estimated that 55% of the Iranian land isoccupied by rangelands. Sheep and goats are a vitalsource of income for the rural population, throughproduction of meat, milk, and wool. The mainsources of feed for sheep and goats are the natural

pastures provided by extensive rangelands, cerealstraw and stubble grazing. Vicia and Lathyrus genusare the major components of rangelands. The mostimportance traits of Lathyrus are drought tolerance,resistance of stored seeds pests, adaptability to nearlyall types of soils as well as to adverse climaticconditions and low input requirement (Larbi, et al.,2010). However, little is known about the yields ofherbage, seeds and straw, of the promisingaccessions under on-farm conditions. Such data areneeded to select accessions for detail agronomic andanimal feeding studies, and subsequent integrationinto the farming systems. Therefore, an on-farmexperiment was conducted in two sowing seasons(autumn and spring) in semi-arid environments(Xerophilous forest zone) in west of Iran to evaluatethe effects of sowing season on herbage, seed andstraw yields, and of promising accessions ofgrasspea, with the aim of identifying accessions withsuitable adaptation for seed yield and strawproduction under specific environments anddetermining the pattern of variation in seed yieldand its components in different groups of accessions.

MATERIALS AND METHODSSites: The study was conducted in KhoramabadAgricultural Station in Luristan province, insouthwest of Iran (33°29' N and 48°21' E) at altitude1147 m. The mean annual rainfall is 520 mm andthe mean annual temperature is 17.3°C. Itstemperatures vary widely with the seasons andbetween day and night. The rainiest month is Marchwith 106 mm rainfall. The average maximumtemperature is 30.5°C in July and mediumtemperature is 4.5°C in January (Fig1). The climateof this region is moderate semiarid (Xerophilousforest zone) (Badripou et al., 2006). TheEmbrothemic diagram show that drought period ofstation is for four months of year and wet seasonstarts in October and it continue until May (Fig1).

Experimental design and management:Tenaccessions of grasspea (289, 290, 299, 387, 449,587, B111, B222, B521 and ETH299) were providedfrom The International Center for AgriculturalResearch in the Dry Areas (ICCADA). Two separateexperiments were conducted. Seeds of accessionswith a local accession (Nagadah) were sown in Mid-October 2010 and Mid-March 2011. Seeds weresown in four drilled lines 4 m long at a rate of 120 kg

537Vol. 36, No. 6, 2013

FIG.1: The lines of two axes chart of 10 year period

Embrothermic curve

ha-1 and a row spacing of 25 cm using randomizedcomplete block design with three replications. Noirrigation was given. Weeds were controlledmechanically. Fertilizer application rates were 100kg phosphorus (P)/h in autumn and 50 kg/h nitrogen(N) at spring.

Sampling for yield and agronomic traits:Herbage and seed yields were estimated at maturity.Before the harvest, flowering date and podemergence date were measured as the number ofdays from 21 March to the stage at which 50 percentof plants produced flower and pods, respectively. Atharvest, plants were cut at ground level and at thesame time the following traits were measured:1.Plant height: Five plants of each plot wereselected and their heights were measured based oncm and then their averages were taken.

2. The lower pod: Five plants of each plot wereselected and their lower pod from the ground weremeasured in cm and then their averages were taken

3. Pod length: Five pods of each five plants weremeasured with ruler based in centimeter.

4. Stem number: The average number of stems ofa 50 cm row of each plot was recorded.

5. Pods number per plant: Pods number of fiveplants was noted down.

6. Seeds number per pod: The number of seedsof five pods of each five plants was noted down.

7. Dry matter (DM) yield: At the time of maturityeach plot was harvested, plant material was air-driedfor seven days and dry weight was expressed in ton

ha-1. Thus, this represents the above-groundbiological yield.

8. Seed yield: The average seed yield per plot wasestimated and express as kg ha-1.

9. Straw yield: Total biological yield minus seedyield.

10. Hundred seeds weight: A sample of 100 cleanseeds was weighed.

11. Pods/plant weight ratio: It was calculated asthe ratio of pods weight to total biological yield.

12. Harvest index: It was calculated as the ratioof seed yield to total biological yield.

Statistical analysis: Data for each experiment wereanalyzed separately using the GLM Univariatemethod (SAS, 2004). Duncan test was used fordetermination of superior lines. Phenotypiccorrelations among characteristics were estimatedfor all pair-wise combinations. All of variablesaveraged over two seasons were used in principalcomponent analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. Thevariables were standardized for cluster analysis(Ward method). The Minitab 16 (2012) was usedfor multivariate analysis.

RESULTSClimatic conditions of experiments: For theautumn sowing season the monthly rainfall fromplanting in November through May was highercompared to the spring sowing season in Marchthrough May (Fig. 1).

Analysis of variance for different plantcharacters: The results of analysis of variance(ANOVA) showed significant variation in all thetraits except 100 seeds weight and harvest index dueto sowing season, (Table 1). The overall means ofall of lines for herbage and seed yield in the firstsowing season was relatively higher than that of thesecond sowing season, with the average values of9763 and 4708 kg ha-1 for DM yield and 3206 and1423 kg ha-1 for seed yield in autumn and springsowing seasons, respectively (Table 2).

The overall means of all of genotypes wereas follows for straw yield was 6532 and 3262 kg ha-

1, for Harvest index it was 32.67 and 29.58%, forpod to plant weight ratio was 0.19 and 0.27, for100 seeds weight were 8.64 and 7.78 g., for floweringdate was 32 and 47 days from 21 March to the stage

538 LEGUME RESEARCH

at which 50 percent of plants went to flowering, forstem number was 98.50 and 64.52, for stem lengthwas 58.56 and 37.21 cm, for lower pod height, was22.84 and 16.25 cm, for pods number per plant was30.24 and 11.41, for seed number per pod was 3.28and 2.65, for pod length was 3.28 and 2.99 cm, forthe first and second sowing seasons, respectively(Tables 2 to 5).

For herbage yield, lines 449, B521 and localvariety produced the highest yield of 10257 to 10580kg ha-1 in the autumn sowing season and lines 387,290, 289 and 299 produced the highest yield of 5520to 6395 kg ha-1 in spring sowing season (Table 2).For seed yield, lines 449 and local variety producedthe highest yield of 4151 and 3784 kg ha-1 in theautumn sowing season and lines 289, 290, 299, 387and 449 produced the highest seed yields of 1892 to2246 kg ha-1 in spring sowing season (Table 2). Thelines 449 and 387 produced the highest values forboth DM and seed yields over two growing seasons.

Relationships between yield and agronomictraits: DM yield was positively correlated with bothstraw yield and seed yield in both sowing seasonsand it was positively correlated with pods per plant,seeds per pod and pod length in the second sowingseason (Table 6). Similarly, seed yield was positivelycorrelated with straw yield, harvest index and podsnumber for the both sowing seasons and with seedsnumber per pods in spring season. Harvest indexwas positively correlated with pods number and seednumber in both the seasons but pod length in thesecond sowing season. Pods to plant weight ratiowas negatively correlated with both flowering dateand podding date for both sowing seasons. 100 seedsweight was negatively correlated with both floweringdate and pod emergence date in the first sowingseason. Pod length was positively correlated withDM yield, straw yield, seed yield and harvest index,pods number per plant and seeds number per podsin spring sowing season and was negativelycorrelated with flower and pod emergence date(Table 6).

Classification of accessions:The results of PCAanalysis showed that the first four principlecomponents (PC1 to PC4) accounted for 37, 28, 10and 8 of the total variation, respectively. DM yield,straw and seed yield in the PC1, seeds per pod, podlength, pods per plant, flowering date and 100 seeds

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Lines Harvest index Pod to plant weight ratio 100 seeds weight names Autumn Spring Autumn Spring Autumn Spring

289 28.33 de 34.33 ab 0.08 d 0.26 bc 7.55 b 8.31 a 290 36.67 abc 35.67 a 0.21 bc 0.32 a 8.53 a 7.56 bc 299 35.33 abc 34.33 ab 0.22 b 0.26 c 8.92 a 7.72 bc 387 34.67 abc 35.33 a 0.20 bc 0.28 abc 9.26 a 7.65 bc 449 39.33 a 36.33 a 0.13 cd 0.29 abc 8.79 a 7.39 c 587 25.67 e 25.00 cd 0.10 d 0.32 a 7.57 b 8.42 a B111 32.67 bcd 30.33 abc 0.20 bc 0.27 abc 8.66 a 8.03 ab B222 32.00 bcd 31.33 abc 0.22 b 0.30 ab 9.29 a 8.01 ab B521 30.67 cde 21.00 de 0.21 bc 0.32 a 9.28 a 7.36 c E299 27.00 de 26.00 bcd 0.30 a 0.25 c 8.50 a 7.78 bc Local 37.00 ab 15.67 e 0.16 bcd 0.12 d 8.69 a 7.34 c Mean 32.67 A 29.58 B 0.19 B 0.27 A 8.64 A 7.78 B

TABLE 3: Means harvest index, pod to plant weight ratio and 100 seeds weight of the grasspea lines grown in autumn andspring seasons.

The means of the lines with same small letters were not significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05The means of the growing season with the different capital letters were significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05

Lines DM yield Seed yield Straw yield Names Autumn Spring Autumn Spring Autumn Spring

289 9709 abc 5645 abc 2768 def 1945 a 7489 a 4039 ab 290 9538 abc 6033 ab 3514 abc 2138 a 6620 a-d 4262 ab 299 9876 abc 5520 abc 3480 abcd 1883 a 6703 abc 3917 ab 387 9676 abc 6395 a 3374 bcd 2246 a 6643 a-d 4471 a 449 10580 a 5254 bc 4151 a 1892 a 7416 a 3691 bc 587 9118 c 3245 e 2342 f 843 b 6248 cde 1924 d B111 9225 bc 3636 de 3036 cde 1098 b 5646 e 2136 d B222 9516 abc 3612 de 3058 cde 1121 b 5705 e 2346 d B521 10257 ab 4296 d 3171 bcde 891 b 6399 b-e 3197 c E299 9609 abc 3018 e 2597 ef 791 b 5784 de 1859 d Local 10291 ab 5135 c 3784 ab 800 b 7198 ab 4046 ab Mean 9763 A 4708 B 3207 A 1423 B 6532 A 3262 B

TABLE 2: Means DM yield, seed yield and straw yields of the grasspea lines grown in autumn and spring seasons

The means of the lines with same small letters were not significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05The means of the growing season with the different capital letters were significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05

weight in the PC2, the lower pod height and stemlength in the PC3 and finally the stem density in thePC4 components were identified as the importanttraits for classification (Table 7). Using Ward clustermethod the 11 lines were grouped into 4 clusters(Figs 2). The lines in Cluster 1 coupled with latematurity had higher productivity of DM and strawyield. The lines in Cluster 2 coupled with earlymaturity had higher productivity for both DM andseed yield. Clusters 3 and 4 had low and moderateproductivity, respectively (Table 8).

Fig. 3 shows the grouping of accessions intofour clusters according to the first two principal

components. The first component separated Clusters3 and 4 in the right side of Fig 3 from Clusters 1 and2 in the left side of Fig. 3 with trend of low to highDM and seed yields. The second componentseparated Clusters 2 and 4 in the lower part of Fig.3 from Clusters 1 and 3 in the upper part of Fig 3based on maturity and pod characteristics. Resultindicated that distribution of accessions based onthe first two components scores are in agreementwith cluster analysis.

DISCUSSIONThe overall means of all of lines for herbage

and seed yield in autumn sowing season was

540 LEGUME RESEARCH

Lines Pod height Pods/plant Seeds/ pod Pod length

Names Autumn Spring Autumn Spring Autumn Spring Autumn Spring

289 21.20 bc 17.53 a 27.33 b 12.00 ab 3.19 ab 2.81 ab 3.23 ab 3.11 ab 290 20.00 c 15.80 a 33.47 a 12.27 a 3.41 ab 2.73 abc 3.37 a 3.18 a 299 23.63 abc 18.47 a 29.07 ab 12.20 a 3.39 ab 2.87 a 3.38 a 3.11 ab 387 23.07 abc 15.07 a 27.27 b 12.53 a 3.28 ab 2.81 ab 3.32 a 3.15 a 449 20.17 c 15.63 a 32.87 a 12.13 a 3.16 ab 2.72 a-d 3.10 bc 3.05 abc 587 23.33 abc 15.53 a 27.33 b 10.80 cd 3.13 b 2.57 cde 2.99 c 2.86 de B111 27.47 a 16.67 a 29.33 ab 11.13 c 3.25 ab 2.53 de 3.33 a 2.93 cde B222 23.97 abc 15.67 a 32.40 ab 11.20 bc 3.37 ab 2.65 bcd 3.40 a 2.99 bcd B521 26.00 ab 15.70 a 29.20 ab 10.53 cd 3.29 ab 2.56 cde 3.22 ab 2.88 de E299 21.70 bc 17.40 a 31.33 ab 10.53 cd 3.17 ab 2.43 e 3.37 a 2.89 de Local 20.67 c 15.30 a 33.00 a 10.20 d 3.44 a 2.41 e 3.35 a 2.80 e Mean 22.84 A 16.25 B 30.24 A 11.41 B 3.28 A 2.65 B 3.28 A 2.99 B

TABLE 5: Means pod height, pods per plant, seeds per pod and pod length of the grasspea lines grown in autumn andspring seasons.

The means of the lines with same small letters were not significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05The means of the growing season with the different capital letters were significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05

Lines Flowering date Pod emergence date Stem number Stem length Names Autumn Spring Autumn Spring Autumn Spring Autumn Spring

289 34.33 a 46.67 b 41.33 abc 48.17 bc 83.7 c 62.7 a 60.33 a-d 42.00 a 290 31.67 bc 46.00 b 39.00 bcd 47.00 cd 103.3 bc 63.3 a 56.80 bcd 35.20 bc 299 31.67 bc 46.00 b 39.00 bcd 47.00 cd 85.7 c 54.0 a 59.47 a-d 42.73 a 387 31.00 c 46.00 b 39.67 abd 47.33 cd 84.0 c 68.7 a 49.80 e 36.07 bc 449 33.33 ab 47.67 b 41.33 abc 48.17 bc 106.0 bc 69.7 a 55.87 cd 37.27 bc 587 33.33 ab 43.67 c 42.67 a 48.83 b 92.7 c 66.0 a 57.60 a-d 32.40 c B111 31.33 c 45.33 bc 39.33 bcd 47.17 cd 123.0 ab 76.3 a 61.13 abc 34.80 bc B222 31.67 bc 45.33 bc 38.67 cd 46.83 cd 86.3 c 70.3 a 63.57 a 35.33 bc B521 30.00 c 45.33 bc 38.00 d 46.50 d 142.2 a 67.7 a 62.57 ab 38.93 ab E299 29.00 d 46.67 b 38.33 cd 46.67 cd 85.3 c 56.7 a 62.20 ab 35.13 bc Local 31.00 c 55.23 a 41.83 ab 50.93 a 91.3 c 54.3 a 54.87 de 39.47 ab Mean 31.67 B 46.72 A 39.92 B 47.69 A 98.50 A 64.52 B 58.56 A 37.21 B

TABLE 4: Means flowering date, pod emergence date, stem number and stem length of the grasspea lines grown in autumnand spring seasons.

The means of the lines with same small letters were not significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05The means of the growing season with the different capital letters were significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05

3210-1-2-3

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FIG 3: Scatter plot of 11 lines and 4 clusters for the first twoprincipal components

E29 9B222B521B11158738 729944929 0Local289

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significantly higher than the spring season, 9763and 4708 kg ha-1 for DM yield and 3206 and 1423kg ha-1 for seed yield in autumn and spring sowingseasons, respectively (Table 2). However, theseresults were much higher than those reported byRobertson and Abd El Moneim (1995) in Syria thatand Larbi et al. (2010) in Syria (ICARDA) in areawith annual total rainfalls 283 mm and 140 mmduring the two growing seasons. Differences inherbage yield might be related to seasonal variationsin the amount and distribution of rainfall and theireffects on plant growth. In semiarid area of Syriathe annual total rainfall was 283mm, but the climaticconditions of present trial was different with annualtotal rainfall 520 mm.

Herbage yield, seed and all of otheragronomic traits of the accessions in the first growingseason was higher than the second season partlydue to the higher amount of rainfall in the first season.Similarly, higher total annual rainfall in the wet versus

dry environment might be partly responsible for thehigher amount of herbage in the wet season.

The presence of genotype × sowing seasoninteraction effects and differences between theaccessions for herbage and seed yield in the autumnand spring environments suggest that accessionscould be selected for each environment. Grasspeaaccession 445, was identified as having potentialfor high herbage production in both environments.The agronomical traits differed between theaccessions within each environment. The results inboth environments are within the reported range ofother authors (Campbell, 1997; Yadov, 1995;Somaroo, 1988; Hanbury et al., 1995; Robertsonand Abd El Moneim, 1995; Benkova and Zakova,2001 and Larbi et al., 2010). Straw yield waspositively correlated with plant height, pods per plant,and pods length in the second sowing season (Table6), which is consistent with the results of Campbell(1997) who found positive correlation between podsper plant and plant height.

TABLE 7: Matrix of coefficients eigein vectors and variance proportion from the first four principal component axes in 11lines of grasspea for autumn sowing date.

Variable PC1 PC2 PC3 PC4

Straw yield 0.40 0.03 -0.20 -0.19DM yield 0.39 -0.08 -0.14 -0.24Seed yield 0.38 -0.19 0.05 -0.22Harvest index 0.30 -0.28 0.14 -0.11Seeds per pod 0.28 -0.30 -0.27 0.06Flowering date 0.28 0.31 -0.13 0.05Pod length (cm) 0.20 -0.38 -0.10 0.31Pod emergence date 0.16 0.44 0.00 -0.04100 seeds wt. -0.12 -0.36 -0.01 0.01Pod per plant -0.20 -0.39 0.28 0.061 th Pod height -0.28 -0.19 -0.43 -0.18Pods/plant wt. ratio 0.22 -0.12 0.40 0.19Stem length -0.10 -0.09 -0.62 0.14Stem No. -0.16 -0.10 0.10 -0.81Eigen value 5.24 3.94 1.42 1.08Variance Proportion 0.37 0.28 0.10 0.08Variance Cumulative 0.37 0.66 0.76 0.84

* The underline coefficients have significant correlation with the relevant axes.

Clusters

DM yield

Seed yield

Straw yield

Harvest Index

Pod/plant Weight ratio

100 seed

weight

Flower date

Pod Emerge date

Stem number

Stem length

Pod high

Pod/ plant

Seed/ pod

Pod length

1 (n=2) 7695a 2324b 5693a 28.83 b 0.16 b 7.97 41.81 a 45.56 a 73.00 49.17 18.68 20.63 2.96 3.12 a 2 (n=4) 7859a 2835a 5465a 35.96 a 0.24 a 8.23 39.17 a 43.56 b 79.34 46.65 18.98 21.48 3.05 3.21 a 3 (n=1) 6182b 1593c 4086b 25.34 b 0.21 a 8.00 38.50 b 45.75 a 79.35 45.00 19.43 19.07 2.85 2.92 b 4 (n=4) 6646b 1970b 4134b 28.88 b 0.26 a 8.36 38.08 b 42.69 b 88.47 49.21 20.57 20.71 2.91 3.13 a

TABLE 8: Comparisons between means of 3 clusters for the traits used in classification for autumn sowing date

The means of the clusters with same letters were not significantly different based on DMRT P< 0.05 method

543Vol. 36, No. 6, 2013

Seed yield was positively correlated withstraw yield and pods number for both sowingseasons and seeds per pod in spring season whichcorresponds with the results of Campbell (1997),Kumar and Dubey (2001), Benkova and Zakova(2001). They found positive correlations among thenumber of pods per plant and plant weight andnumber of seeds per plant with the seed yield.The100 seed weight was negatively correlated withboth flowering and podding date in the first sowingseason, indicating that selection of early floweringaccessions led to increasing seed size when they sownin autumn. Pod length was positively correlated withpods number and seeds per pods and flowering date.These results were in agreement with Mehra et al.(1995) who reported increased pod length combinedwith large seed size which might be desirable forcrop improvement programs. Campbell (1997)suggested that increased seed size usually is highlycorrelated with higher yield. Plant breeders mightwant to consider increasing seeds per pods in larger-seeded types as an effective means of increasingyield.

Using ward clustering method the genotypeswere grouped into 4 clusters (Fig 2). The lines inCluster 1 coupled with late maturity and had higherproductivity for both DM and straw yield. The linesin Cluster 2 coupled with early maturity and hadhigher productivity for both DM and seed yield.Clusters 3 and 4 had low and moderate productivity,respectively

Fig. 2 shows the distribution of accessionsbased on the first two principal component scoresand accessions are classified into four clustersaccording to the first two principal components. Byoverly genotypes and traits eigin vector in the samegraph, the first component separated Clusters 2 and3 from 1 with trend of low to high DM yield (Fig. 3).The second component well separated Clusters 2and 3 based on their maturity. This result indicatedthat distribution of accessions based on the first twocomponent scores were in agreement with clusteranalysis.

CONCLUSIONSHerbage yield and seed yield of grasspea

varied under on-farm conditions in drylandfarming system wi th moderate semiar idenvironment in Iran and they could be used toselect grasspea accessions for herbage production.The overall means of all of lines were 9763 and4708 kg ha-1 for DM yield and 3206 and 1423 kgha-1 for seed yield in autumn and spring sowingseasons, respectively. The lines of 449 and 387gave good DM and seed yield, and they showedpotential for herbage production in moderatesemiarid aria of Iran with mean annual rainfallof 500mm. Selection in drought condition shouldfocus on increased DM yield, and seed yieldcoupled with early flowering, longer pod, moreseeds per pod, more pod per plant and heavierseeds.

REFERENCESBadripour, H., Eskandari, N. and Rezaei, S. A. (2006). “Rangelands of Iran, an Overview”. Published by Ministry of

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