STUDY ON THE PRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL OF SOME VICIA L. SPECIES

Original scientific paper STUDY ON THE PRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL OF SOME VICIA L. SPECIES Siyka Angelova, Yana Guteva In sti tute of Plant Ge netic Re sources, 4122 Sadovo, Bul garia Sum mary: The study pres ents a brief anal y sis of the pro duc tive and bi - o log i cal po ten tial of some an nual spe cies from the ge nus Vicia L. as al ter na - tive crops to com mon vetch. The ob jects of the re search are eight prom is ing ac ces sions with lo cal or i gins, se lected as a re sult of a pre lim i nary eval u a tion of the vetch col lec tion, stored in the genebank of IPGR, Sadovo. The re sults show that the fol low ing spe cies Vicia villosa, Vicia striata and Vicia lutea have high herb age pro duc tion, but many dif fi cul ties ex ist re gard ing their main te nance be cause of their high lev els of pod shat ter ing and sub se quent seed losses, which are se ri ous prob lems for their in tro duc tion as crops. Narbon vetch (Vicia narbonensis) is char ac ter ised with very early ma tu rity, good herb age yield and non-shat ter ing pods. The re sults ob tained con firmed the eco nomic im por - tance and suit abil ity of cul ti vated spe cies Vicia sativa and Vicia ervilia as tra di - tional for age crops. Key words: ge nus Vicia, wild spe cies, com par a tive study, bi o log i cal char ac ters, pro duc tive po ten tial. INTRODUCTION The wide po ten tial of vetch spe cies for for age pro duc tion in dry re gions as well as their high pro tein con tent (19-35 %), has pro voked the in ter est of many sci en tists in this field from the be gin ning of the last cen tury (Tupikova, 1926; Muratova, 1926). Vicia is a large ge nus of about 140 spe cies, na tive to Eu rope, Asia and Af rica. Ac cord ing to Houerou (1985) the vetch spe cies have an enor - mous po ten tial as le gume crops of drought stress tol er ance. A to tal of 19 spe cies of the ge nus Vicia (in clud ing Vicia faba) are cul ti vated all over the world mainly for for age, grain and as green ma nure crops (Enneking, 1995; Maxed, 1995). The Bul gar ian col lec tion of vetch is main tained in the Na tional genebank lo cated in IPGR Sadovo. In to tal there are 1140 ac ces sions pre served. The larg - est com po nent con tains Vicia sativa com plex (Com mon vetch), com pris ing over 60% of the to tal col lec tion. The Vicia spe cies are well rep re sented with more than 25 an nual spe cies and 4 pe ren nial spe cies. In ear lier times com mon vetch was known as a tra di tional for age crop. Since 1960 area sown to this crop has de creased pro gres sively. How ever now, the in ter est in vetch uti li za tion has in - creased again, mainly for mix tures with oats, wheat or triticale. A few an nual spe - cies are cul ti vated in our coun try: mainly com mon vetch V. sativa and oc ca sion - ally - bit ter vetch (V. ervilia), hairy vetch (V. villosa) and Hun gar ian vetch (V. pannonica). From the pe ren nial spe cies V. tenuifolia, has some eco nomic im - por tance; it has been used around its nat u ral hab i tats in the East ern Rhodope Moun tains. There have been few at tempts to in tro duce prom is ing wild vetch spe - 97

98 Institut za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo, Novi Sad cies as al ter na tive crops or as a breed ing ma te rial in Bul garia (Terziiski, 1986; Koeva et all, 2002). The main aim of this study is to es tab lish the eco nomic suit abil ity of dif fer - ent prom is ing an nual vetch spe cies, stored in the genebank of IPGR- Sadovo as well as the pos si bil i ties for their uti li za tion as al ter na tive for age crops. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was con ducted in two stages: (a) The preliminary evaluation of the collection (nursery rows) during 1998-2000. (b) The com par a tive mi cro plot trial dur ing 2000-2002. The pre lim i nary eval u a tion of the ac ces sions was car ried out in the ex per i - men tal field of IPGR - Sadovo ac cord ing to the In ter na tional Descriptor Lists (IPGRI, 1982). Sig nif i cant mor pho log i cal vari abil ity was shown. In the sec ond stage the eight se lected ac ces sions were in cluded in a com par a tive microplot trial. All ac ces sions orig i nate from Bul garia: two cultivars N o 235 (V. sativa) and Asko (V. villosa) were used as con trols and six wild forms, col lected from dif fer - ent floristic re gions of the coun try (Ta ble 1). Ta ble 1: Sta tus of the ac ces sions in cluded in the in ves ti ga tion N o Spe cies Ac ces sion num ber Or i gin 1. V. sativa N o 235- cultivar Re search in sti tute IPGR, Sadovo 2. V. villosa Asko - cultivar Research institute DZI, G.Toshevo 3. V. ervilia 82500- land race East Rhodopi Mts. 4. V. narbonensis 99E0264- wild East St. Planina (Aitos) 5. V.angustifolia 99E0165- wild SW Bul garia (vil lage Parvomay, Petrich) 6. V. striata A0E0189- wild Pjasachnik lake, near Plovdiv 7. V. lutea A0E0151- wild Botanical Garden, Sofia 8. V.serratifolia A0E0234 - wild Pjasachnik lake, near Plovdiv The microplot trial was car ried out, us ing a ran dom ized block de sign method in 4 rep li ca tions, each plot was 10 m 2 in size. The size of the plots was con sis tent with the bi o log i cal char ac ter is tics of vetch spe cies at ma tu rity and to al low for the pos si bil ity of har vest ing by stages for min i miz ing seed losses. The ac ces sions were sown at the end of Oc to ber (with a sow ing rate of 350 seeds per m 2 ), af ter ce re als. Ap pro pri ate soil cultivations and nor mal grow ing sea son re - quire ments were im ple mented. The green mass yield was es ti mated dur ing the pe riod of tech ni cal ma tu rity in the be gin ning of June and the seed yield at full ma tu rity (July). ANOVA method was used for elim i nat ing the dif fer ences be tween the pro duc tiv ity po ten tial of spe cies (Duncan, 1995). The con tent of crude pro tein and crude fibres for each ac ces sion was ana lysed from the dry matter. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The main cri te ria for se lect ing prom is ing vetch ac ces sions in the first stage of the eval u a tion were: early ma tu rity and win ter har di ness - pri or ity di rec tions in vetch breed ing ac tiv i ties (ICARDA, 1999). The pro duc tive po ten tial of each spe -

Zbornik radova, Sveska 44, 2007. 99 cies was an other im por tant cri te rion. Screen ing of the prom is ing ac ces sions was done ac cord ing to their com plex char ac ter iza tions of the examined agronomic traits (Kicheva, 2003). The se lected ac ces sions were in cluded in a mi cro plot trial for es tab lish ing and com par ing their bi o log i cal char ac ter is tics and pro duc tive potential. There were sig nif i cant dif fer ences be tween spe cies in the du ra tion of the grow ing sea son: from 122 to 177 days (from ger mi na tion to full ma tu rity). The ac ces sions of V. narbonensis, V. serratifolia and V. angustifolia have shorter grow ing sea sons than other spe cies (Fig. 1). Cultivar Asko (V. villosa) has the lon gest grow ing sea son and the lon gest flow er ing pe riod (about 50-60 days). Com mon vetch (cultivar N o 235) and bit ter vetch (ac ces sion N o 82 500) had sim i - lar grow ing sea son lengths - av er age 148 days. Fig. Days from ger mi na tion to tech ni cal and full ma tu rity Ear li ness in tech ni cal ma tu rity is a very im por tant char ac ter is tic for de ter - min ing eco nom i cal po ten tial of each spe cies - this gives the pos si bil ity of ob tain - ing herb age pro duc tion in the early spring as well as avoid ing late spring drought. The ear li est in tech ni cal ma tu rity is narbon vetch (V. narbonensis) - 12-14 May, fol lowed by bit ter vetch (V. ervilia) - 21-29 May and com mon vetch (V. sativa) - 5-10 June. The other spe cies - V. serratifolia, V. angustifolia, V. striata and V. lutea reached tech ni cal ma tu rity at the end of June. The lat est is hairy vetch (V. villosa) in the be gin ning of July. All spe cies fol low the same pat tern in reach ing full ma tu rity (Fig. 1). The fa vour able cli ma tic con di tions dur ing the grow ing sea son in 2001 had a good ef fect on some im por tant ag ro nomic traits - plant height, num ber of branches and yield. There were sig nif i cant dif fer ences be tween spe cies in yield of green mass - from 2,5 (V. ervilia) to 3,9 kg/m 2 (V. striata) (ta ble 2). The ac ces - sion N o A0E0189 of V. striata has the high est yield with sta tis ti cally proven dif fer - ences due to its great num ber of branches per plant and good leafiness. It must be out lined that this spe cies has high eco log i cal plas tic ity and is widely spread through out many re gions of the coun try. Other spe cies with good yield (of green

100 Institut za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo, Novi Sad mass) are V. lutea (ac ces sion N o A0E0151), V. villosa (cultivar Asko) and V. sativa (cultivar N o 235). These ac ces sions are also char ac ter ized with good branch ing, leafiness and pro duc tiv ity. Bit ter vetch (ac ces sion N o 82500) has the low est yield - 2,45 kg/m 2 due to its tiny leaves and short stems with few branches. Ta ble 2: Green mass yield (kg/m 2 ) N o Species Ac ces sion Years number 2001 2002 Average 1. V. sativa cv. N o 235 3,4 bc 3,1 bc 3,25 2. V. villosa cv. Asko 3,4 bc 3,1 bc 3,25 3. V. ervilia 82500 2,5 e 2,4 e 2,45 4. V. narbonensis 99E0264 3,1 cd 3,0 bc 3,05 5. V. angustifolia 99E0165 2,8 d 2,6 d 2,7 6. V. striata A0E0189 4,2 a 3,6 a 3,9 7. V. lutea A0E0151 3,5 b 3,1 bc 3,3 8. V. serratifolia A0E0234 3,0 c 3,2 b 3,1 Ta ble 3: Seed yield (g/m 2 ) N o Species Ac ces sion Years number 2001 2002 Average 1. V. sativa cv. N o 235 205,3 c 193,0 c 199,2 2. V. villosa cv. Asko 56,3 f 59,3 ef 57,8 3. V. ervilia 82500 276,5 a 289,3 a 282,9 4. V. narbonensis 99E0264 240,5 b 250,5 b 245,0 5. V. angustifolia 99E0165 49,8 f 44,5 f 47,2 6. V. striata A0E0189 76,3 e 74,8 e 75,6 7. V. lutea A0E0151 87,8 de 72,0 e 79,9 8. V. serratifolia A0E0234 111,8 d 94,0 d 102,9 Ta ble 4: Chem i cal anal y sis (% dry mat ter) in herb age and seeds - av er age for 2 years N o Species Ac ces sion number Herbage Seeds Crude pro tein Crude fibres Crude pro tein Crude fibres 1. V. sativa N o 235 21,4 29,8 36,2 2,8 2. V. villosa Asko 20,5 32,6 27,5 8,6 3. V. ervilia 82500 17,0 23,7 26,0 3,8 4. V. narbonensis 99E0264 20,9 26,9 25,7 10,4 5. V. angustifolia 99E0165 21,0 27,3 34,2 5,8 6. V. striata A0E0189 18,7 29,6 30,8 7,3 7. V. lutea A0E0151 18,6 29,8 34,6 5,8 8. V. serratifolia A0E0234 18,3 30,2 30,4 9,3 Seed po ten tial of vetch es is a very im por tant cri te ria, in re gard to their re - gen er a tion and main te nance in ex situ col lec tions. Dur ing the study the high est seed yield was pro duced from bit ter vetch. The ac ces sion N o 82500 (V. ervilia) has the high est and the stablest seed pro duc tiv ity - 282,9 g/m 2. This spe cies is char ac ter ized with non-shat ter ing pods and a high re sis tance to lodg ing and

Zbornik radova, Sveska 44, 2007. 101 pests (ta ble 3). Narbon vetch (ac ces sion N o 99E0264) also has higher seed yields than the se lected cultivar of com mon vetch N o 235. This spe cies has the larg est seeds among the exanined ma te rial (m=181,9 g) and com par a tively low lev els of pod shat ter ing. Cultivar N o 235 (com mon vetch) takes third po si tion for seed pro duc tive ness - 199,2 g/m 2. The ac ces sions of V. angustifolia, V. villosa, V. striata and V. lutea have con - sid er ably lower seed yield - from 44,5 to 87,7 g/m 2. This is mainly due to their high rates of pod shat ter ing (40-70 %) that in crease seed losses dur ing har vest - ing. They also char ac ter ize with floor full ma tu rity and es pe cially hairy vetch. Un - der lo cal cli ma tic con di tions this is one of the lim it ing fac tors for seed yield (Kicheva, 2003). The chem i cal re sults for the con tent of crude pro tein and crude fibres both in the dry mat ter and seeds of each spe cies are pre sented in Ta ble 4. The ac ces - sions of V. sativa, V. angustifolia, V. villosa and V. narbonensis have higher crude pro tein con tent in whole plant than the oth ers - from 20,5 to 21,4 %. The pro tein con tent is lower in V. striata (18,7 %), V. lutea (18,6 %) and V. serratifolia (18,3 %). The low est crude pro tein con tent is es tab lished in bit ter vetch (17,0 %). More con sid er able vari a tion ex ists be tween spe cies re gard ing the chem i cal com po si tion of seeds. The seeds of com mon vetch (cultivar N o 235) are char ac - ter ized with the high est crude pro tein (36,2 %) and the low est crude fibres con - tent (2,8 %). The seeds of V. lutea and V. angustifolia con tain com par a tively high con tent of crude pro tein and fibres. Narbon vetch has the low est pro tein con tent in the seeds. CONCLUSIONS The re sults pro vide im por tant in for ma tion on the screen ing of germplasm of the spe cies of ge nus Vicia stored in the Bul gar ian genebank. The ob served vari abil ity shows that there is wide ge netic di ver sity in wild pop u la tions of vetch. The ex am ined vetch ac ces sions are very in ter est ing for in clu sion in breed - ing pro grams. There are many dif fi cul ties in their main te nance and re gen er a tion in ex situ col lec tion, so the ef forts would be di rected to wards search ing for pos si - bil i ties for in situ con ser va tion and sus tain able uti li za tion in their nat u ral hab i - tats. References Duncan, D. (1995): Mul ti ple range and mul ti ple F-tests. Biometrics,11. 256-260. Enneking, D. (1995): The tox ic ity of Vicia spe cies and their uti li za tion as grain le gumes. Co-operative Research Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture. 1993. Oc - casional publication N o 6, Uni ver sity of West ern Aus tra lia, Ned lands, W. A. 67-78. Houérou, L. H. N. (1985): For age and fuel plants in the arid zone of North Af rica, the Near and Mid dle East. In: Plants for Arid Lands. Pro ceed ings of the Kew Con fer ence on Eco - nomic Plants of Arid Lands held in the Jodrell Lab o ra tory, Royal Bo tanic Gradens, Kew, Eng land, 22-27 July 1984. (Wickens, G. E., Goodin, J. R., & Field, D. V.) (Eds) Unwin Hyman, Lon don. 117-141. ICARDA (1999): Germplasm Pro gram - Le gumes. An nual Re port for 1997. Alep po, Syria 16. 4-10. IPGRI (1982): For age Grass Descriptors. Rome, It aly. 5-20. Kicheva, P. (2003): Iden ti fi ca tion and man age ment of the ge netic di ver sity of lo cal ac ces - sions from Ge nus Vicia L. (Fabaceae). IPGR, Sadovo. PhD. (Bg), 180.

102 Institut za ratarstvo i povrtarstvo, Novi Sad Koeva R., S.Angelova,Ya.Guteva. (2002): Plant ge netic re sources and their bi o log i cal po - tential integrated to the agricultural and ecological systems, Journal Biotechnology and Biotechnological Equipment, 2/16. 26-35. Maxted N. (1995): An ecogeographical study of Vicia subgenus Vicia, IPGRI, Rome, It aly. 180. Muratova, V. (1926): Bul le tin of Ap plied Bot any, ge net ics, and plant breed ing. Le nin grad 16. 99-149. Terziiski, D. (1986): Biosystematic and agrobiological study of the bul garian rep re sen ta - tives of Ge nus Vicia L. fam ily Fabacea Lindley, So fia. 1-54. Tupikova, A. (1926): Bul le tin of Ap plied Bot any, ge net ics, and plant breed ing. Le nin grad 16.151-246.