Some Quality Traits of White Sweet Clover Collected from Natural Flora

Abstract

In Turkey, one of the most important problem of livestock’s production is insufficiency of quality forage crop, but still few forage species are cultivated. On the other hand, conservation of plant genetic resources has become an important problem in the world today. Indeed, biodiversity is an indispensable element of human life, especially food, and it is estimated that 20% of these resourceswill extinct by 2030. The aim of study was to determine some quality traits of white sweet clover (Melilotus alba Desr.) collected from natural flora of Bilecik province. In this study, plants were collected at the flowering stage and investigated of 17 genotypes. The determined quality traits of genotypes as fallows; crude protein, ADF, NDF, RFV, K, P, Mg, Ca and Ca/P, and these traits werenoted as11.99-21.07%, 27.70-40.53%, 43.31-55.84%, 93.44-147.02, 1.300-2.807%, 0.187-0.310%,0.127-0.350%, 0.490-1.417% and 2.05-5.92%, respectively. As a result of the study, it has beendetermined that the quality of the 17 white sweet clover genotypes collected from Bilecik naturalflora have been sufficient for animal feeding and have a significant potential for future breeding activities.