Evaluation of perennial legumes collected in Italy: First year data

Abstract

Ecotype variation was studied between and within different perennial legumes species collected in three Italian regions: Calabria-Sicily, Tuscany-Lathium-Umbria, and Sardinia. The germplasms have been evaluated at the Tuscia University’s experimental field in a randomised block design with two replications, each plot consisted of about 12 plants. Eighteen morphological characters have been evaluated and analysed using analysis of variance, principal components analysis, and discriminant analysis, correlation between morphological characters and edaphic factors of the collection sites were performed. The analyses were run both considering all the species of the trail, and focusing only on the species with more accessions, i.e. Trifolium pratense, Medicago lupulina and Lotus. The major differences were, as expected, between species, but there were also some statistical differences between accessions. There were weak correlations between morphological characters and environmental conditions of the collection site. Considering all the evaluated collection as a whole, the environmental factor with the highest number of correlations was pH; it affected the plant structure (petiole length and internodes), the flowering time and seed production. Some of the species did not flower at all as Astragalus monspessulanus, Trifolium hybridum, and Argyrolobium zanonii. M. lupulina was the earlier species, while Lotus was later beginning to flower in June. Utilizing a discriminant analysis with all the characteristics recorded and the species as a grouping strategy, it was possible to monitor the similarity between species. Some species were very similar as, for example, the clovers and the Lotus, whereas other were sharply different as, for example, Psoralea bituminosa.