Morphological, Agronomical, Phenological and Stand Persistence Traits of Some Wild Narrowleaf Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus tenuis Waldst. & Kit.) Populations

Existing information on the ecology, distribution and plant traits of Lotus taxa is scant for the natural flora of Turkey, which is one of the most important countries in the Mediterranean zone for genetic resources and genetic diversity of these species. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine (i) morphologic, agronomic, phenologic, stand persistence traits and growth habits of some wild narrowleaf birdsfoot trefoil (NBT; Lotus tenuis Waldst. & Kit.), and (ii) the relationships between these traits and altitude, latitude or longitude of the natural habitats, the samples of which were obtained from diverse natural areas of Black Sea Region, Turkey. The altitudes of sampling sites ranged from 1 to 1510 m. A total of 86 wild NBT were sampled in the study. NBT was present in all ranges of altitude, although its frequency was the highest in altitudes between 1-300 m. On the other hand, considerable variations were determined for the investigated traits, except for growth habit in which all populations had decumbent growth habit. The results of the present study indicate that NBT better adapted to lowlands and studied region offers important genetic resources for further researches and also may serve as a valuable breeding material for new grazing-type and disease resistant NBT varieties.