Genetic potential of wild birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.)
seeds collected from different geographical locations regarding
to nutrient composition and nutritive value
Ferat Uzun.Hasan Beytullah Do¨nmez.Nuh Ocak
Received: 11 June 2014 / Accepted: 24 July 2015 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract To investigate the effects of seed origin on the nutrient content and nutritive value of birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), seeds of wild birdsfoot trefoil (WBT) communities were collected from plants spontaneously occurring in pasture, rangelands and silvopastoral areas located at four altitudes, two latitudes and eight longitudes ranges of the Black Sea Region, Turkey. The relative feed value (RFV) and metabolizable energy (ME), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K) and condensed tannins (CT) contents, K/(Ca ? Mg) and Ca/P ratios of 126 pop-ulations from these seeds collected from different locations and grown under the same climatic condi-tions were determined. Altitude was significantly correlated with the abundance of WBT (r2= 0.71). The abundance of population (percentage of WBT populations) in the silvopastoral areas (58.4 %) was
higher than that in upland (5.6 %), pasture (16.7 %) and rangeland (19.3 %). The ME, RFV and ADF, NDF, P, K and CT contents of populations were not influenced by altitudinal and geographical gradients. There were obvious effects of altitude on Ca and Mg, of latitude on Ca and of longitude on CP, Ca and Mg, and also on Ca/P and K/(Ca ? Mg) ratios. This study provided information on genetic potentials of WBT populations in terms of nutritional properties. The results indicated that seeds selected from the popula-tions that have high feed value can be used to improve the studied areas or artificial pasture and agroforest landscapes.
Keywords Agroforestry Lotus Geographical variation Seed origin Chemical composition Feed value
Introduction
Major agroforestry practices in Turkey as well as in most part of the world can be classified as silvoarable, silvopastoral, agrosilvopastoral and orchard intercrop-ping areas (Nerlich et al.2013). In these regions, pasture, rangeland and traditional agroforest areas are important feed resources for grazing ruminants. Especially, the livestock raised at high altitudes depend mostly on the feed resources from grass and legume plants growing in natural pasture and rangeland habitats or silvopastoral areas. However, fodder feeds at these areas are dried off
F. Uzun
Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Ondokuz Mayis University, 55139 Samsun, Turkey H. B. Do¨nmez
Organic Agricultural Program, Vocational School of Tufanbeyli, Cukurova University, 01330 Adana, Turkey N. Ocak (&)
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ondokuz Mayis University, 55139 Samsun, Turkey e-mail: nuhocak@omu.edu.tr
during the early autumn (Ocak et al.2006; Hussain et al. 2009) coinciding with the breeding season of sheep and goats. This fact limits both nutrient intake and digestibil-ity of pastures and rangelands, therefore the flocks yield and reproductive performance may be very low (Ocak et al. 2006; Melaku et al. 2010; Sun et al. 2014). Accordingly, native marginal lands usually supply livestock with high food quality during spring, but herbage quality declines rapidly as grazable material matures (Melaku et al.2010; Mountousis et al.2011). In order to improve the quality of the herbage consumed by grazing animals, it is necessary to obtain information about its chemical composition, which thereafter could be related to its capacity to satisfy the requirements of the grazing animals (Mountousis et al.2011).
The forage plant breeding should be focused on improving the sustainability of agroforest practice through feeding animals i.e. yields and quality. The genus Lotus (Fabaceae), especially birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.), an perennial species adapted to a broad range of environments may provide an excellent feed during dry season when nutrient deficiencies for the animals are likely to occur (Vuckovic et al. 2007; Pereira et al. 2011), because of its growth period (Minnee´ et al.2007). Indeed the birdsfoot trefoil as a forage species in many parts of the world plays an important role in ruminant nutrition by promoting the enhancement of energy, protein, and minerals (Vuckovic et al.2007; Pereira et al.2011). Wild birdsfoot trefoil (WBT), one of the self-generating plants in native pasture, rangeland and silvopastoral areas in Turkey, has traditionally been used in forage grazing systems. This forage species is a high quality, non-bloating perennial legume that is tolerant of drought, low soil fertility and heavy grazing (Orcen 2013). Grazing trials indicated that WBT increased animal production (Min et al. 2001; Ramı´rez-Restrepo et al. 2005, 2006a, b) due to helpful condensed tannins (CT) content (Abberton et al. 2008) without causing the risk of frothy bloat in sheep and cattle (Minnee´ et al. 2007). On the other hand, the incorporation of trees and crops which are able to biologically fix nitrogen is fairly common in agroforestry systems (Jose2009). Therefore, birdsfoot trefoil is one of the most important legumes in traditional agroforestry systems in some part of Mediterranean landscapes, including Turkey (Nerlich et al. 2013; Salvati and Ferrara 2015) due to its ability to fix nitrogen (Graham and
Vance 2003) and buffers (Udawatta et al. 2008) for silvopastoral areas. Indeed, wild legumes, including WBT, play an important role in marginal lands because of their nitrogen fixing ability (Al Sherif et al.2004).
Chemical and nutritional status of WBT may be dependent on seed origin or collection site, i.e., latitude and longitude as well as altitude (Mountousis et al.2011; Singh and Todaria2012) and soil fertility features (Felderer et al.2013). Although some inves-tigations on the chemical and nutritional status of birdsfoot trefoil are available, particularly in relation to seasonal and altitudinal development (Vuckovic et al. 2007; Pereira et al. 2011) and soil fertility (Felderer et al. 2013), to improve forage production and agroforest areas, the effect of seed origin on the nutrient composition and nutritive value of WBT were not investigated. In addition, a search of the literature indicated a lack of information on the abundance of WBT populations in upland, pasture, rangeland and silvopastoral areas over altitudinal and geographical gradients. Thus, it seemed worthwhile to investigate the self-generating forage species, which lead to increase in animal yield and reproductive performance and also reduce the health problems, in marginal areas of the Black Sea Region, Turkey for agroforestry practices. Accordingly, the objectives of the present study were twofold: first, to assess abundance of WBT populations in marginal lands over altitudinal and geographical gradients of the Black Sea Region, Turkey and the second was to compare genetic potentials in a single environment in terms of the nutrient composition and the nutritive value of WBT populations from seed collected from pasture, range-land and silvopastoral areas located at different altitudes, latitudes and longitudes of this region.
Materials and methods
Plant material and growth conditions
Seeds of WBT populations were collected from four different altitudes (1 to 2193 m a.s.l.), two latitudes (40°340–41°530N) and eight longitudes (31°160– 38°290E) ranges of the Black Sea Region, Turkey from July to September. Land cover class and percent of the investigated area are presented in the Table1. The areas of investigated region and the collection
sites extend for nearly 154,000 km2and 48,000 km2, respectively and cover a large part of the region. The distance between the two collection locations in the same county was at least 8 km. Seeds were collected from mature pods of approximately 50 mature plants spontaneously occurring in upland, pasture, rangeland and silvopastoral areas of the region. Silvopastoral areas (Yamamoto et al. 2007) were natural pasture within the forest and with low to moderate tree density (e.g. Picea orientalis, Abies spp., Fagus orientalis, Castanea sativa, Alnus glutinosa, Quercus spp., Carpinus betulus, Prunus spp. and Tilia tomentosa) and shrub (e.g. Sambucus nigra, Rosa canina, and Rubus fruticosus). A totally of 126 WBT populations were collected from these areas. The abundance of population in each of collection areas were expressed as a percentage of total populations. Seeds from each altitude, latitude and longitude were sown in nursery beds, and then grown under the same climatic conditions in the experimental area at the Black Sea Agricultural Research Institute (situated at 41°170N latitude, 36°210E longitude and 4 m a.s.l. altitude). The local climate is mild and humid, with a mean annual temperature of 14.4°C ranging from 3.1 °C in winter to 16.7°C in summer and with a mean annual rainfall of 675.1 mm during the study period (TSMS 2013). Some soil properties (depth of 0–30 cm) of the experimental areas from which seeds collected and grown are presented in Table2.
Determination of nutrient contents
Initially, 2 kg of plant tissue was freshly harvested from each of 126 WBT populations representing all the seedlings. Bulk sample was mixed thoroughly and only 0.5 kg was finally dried at 60°C for 72 h to determine the dry matter (DM) content. Samples were then finely grinded and used for chemical analysis at the Analytical Laboratory of Depart-ments of Field Crops and Animal Science, (Faculty of Agriculture, Ondokuz Mayis University). The contents of acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), crude protein (CP) and some minerals (Ca, P, Mg and K) contents of WBT populations were determined by using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). The near-infrared spectra were collected with a monochromator (FOSS NIR Systems 6500, Silver Spring, MD, USA), by scanning the 400–2500 nm spectral range. All spectra and reference data were recorded and managed with the WINISI version 1.6 software (Infrasoft International, Port Matilda, PA, USA). The CT contents of WBT populations were deter-mined as described by Ramı´rez-Restrepo et al. (2006a). The tetany ratio is calculated on an equivalent weight basis using a so-called tetany ratio [K/(Ca ? Mg)]. Each nutrient was analyzed with three replicated samples from each of the WBT populations.
Table 1 Land cover class and areas (% of total region and corresponding area in Turkey) in the collection region of wild birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.)
a Land occupied by buildings (graveyard etc.) b Land under protective cover
c Heather and macquis d Stony land, swamp, arid land etc. are included, respectively (TUIK2015)
Description Region Turkey
Total area of settlementsa 50.6 11.6
Rural areas 1.3 9.8
Urban areas 49.3 11.7
Arable area 16.7 11.8
Sown 10.1 10.2
Vegetables and flower gardensb 0.5 12.5
Fruit orchards and other permanent cropsb 3.3 21.3
Poplar and willow land 0.2 13.3
Unused and undeveloped potentially productive land 2.1 17.0
Permanent meadow 0.5 5.3
Fallow land 2.0 8.0
Pasture land 4.9 5.7
Forest and woodlandc 23.3 19.4
Calculation of metabolizable energy and relative feed value
As described by Moore and Undersander (2002), digestible DM (DDM) and DM intake (DMI) was calculated from percentage ADF and NDF values using the following equations, respectively; DDM %ð Þ ¼ 88:9 ð0:779 % ADFÞ and DMI % of body weightð Þ ¼ 120= % NDFð Þ. Metabolizable energy (ME) was estimated using the following equation; ME MJ=ð kg DMÞ ¼ 0:17 % DDM 2:0. Relative feed value (RFV) was estimated from DDM and DMI using the following equation; RFV g=kg DMð Þ ¼ ðDDM DMIÞ=1:29.
Statistical analysis
Some nutrient composition and nutritive value of the WBT populations were studied by multifactor analysis of variance, including the effects of altitudes, latitudes,
longitudes, and their interactions. However, the inter-action effects of factors were not shown in the tables and elsewhere, because of their insignificant effects on any of the studied parameters. Multiple regressions were used to assess the influence of the altitudinal and geographical gradients on population abundance. Pearson’s correlation analysis was performed to assess the association between different parameters in each of factors. Comparisons between altitudinal and geo-graphical gradients were made using Duncan’s multi-ple range test, and differences were considered significant at P \ 0.05. All the statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software package, version 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA).
Results and discussion
The population abundance (% of WBT populations) was lower in upland (5.6 %), pasture (16.7 %) and
Table 2 General soil properties (depth of 0–30 cm) of the experimental areas from which seeds of wild birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) collected and grown
Base Saturation (%) CaCO3 (g kg-1) Soluble Salt (g kg-1) Available P (kg ha-1) Available K (kg ha-1) Organic matter (g kg-1) pH (H2O) Texture Altitude \400 65.7 52.4 0.15 20.3 827.0 21.3 7.18 Clay loam 401–800 65.8 75.9 0.21 24.1 775.0 25.6 7.37 Clay loam 801–1200 67.7 56.7 0.14 20.1 619.2 26.7 7.15 Clay loam b [ 1200 72.9 34.1 0.11 17.5 590.2 26.8 6.65 Clay Latitude 40°340–40°590 67.8 58.1 0.16 20.0 766.6 26.1 7.05 Clay loam 41°020–41°530 67.4 57.4 0.16 22.1 598.1 24.5 7.26 Clay loam Longitude 31°160–31°560 73.8 33.4 0.12 15.0 552.6 28.8 6.76 Clay 32°000–32°660 71.5 61.4 0.15 17.4 636.4 22.6 7.32 Clay 33°020–33°590 69.1 60.4 0.13 24.2 508.5 25.3 7.32 Clay loam 34°010–34°540 67.3 93.5 0.09 19.0 499.3 23.6 7.40 Clay loam 35°010–35°590 58.1 72.4 0.17 30.5 719.8 30.5 7.41 Clay loam 36°040–36°550 62.9 77.6 0.23 21.8 951.0 23.0 7.34 Clay loam 37°120–37°550 65.9 35.1 0.21 13.6 900.5 22.7 6.53 Clay loam 38°250–38°290 87.2 8.6 0.11 18.6 993.9 21.2 6.38 Clay Experimental area 4 m. 41°170N. 36°210E 96.0 139.4 0.90 32.8 712.0 24.1 7.64 Clay
rangelands (19.3 %) than in silvopastoral areas (58.4 %). Altitude was significantly correlated with the abundance of the WBT (r2= 0.71, P \ 0.01). The WBT populations were affected by altitude (r2= 0.60, P \ 0.01), while they were unaffected latitude (r2= 0.08, P = 0.27) and longitude (r2= 0.47, P = 0.07). Indeed, while WBT commu-nities dominated the legume forages in pasture, rangeland and silvopastoral areas, their relative abun-dance was higher in all areas located in high altitudes. The abundance of WBT communities are probably ultimately limited by temperature, water deficit, solar radiation, competition or interactions between plant species and soil nutrient availability, and also changes in photoperiod (Vuckovic et al. 2007; Perry et al. 2009; Mountousis et al. 2011). Smith et al. (2009) reported that there was no correlation between ecological distance and any of the ecotype traits. This phenomenon can be explained by the Massenerhebung (mass elevation) effect, because, on a global or regional scale, climate is mostly related with geo-graphical position (Han et al. 2012). On the other hand, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the causes that limited the herbage mass accumulation of WBT under unknown grazing management, because this region lands is grazed directly by livestock throughout year. Indeed, our field observations indi-cated that the agronomic performance of WBT from summer to autumn decreased due to reduced plant population as a consequence of the grazing frequen-cies and/or grazing intensities used (Ramı´rez-Restrepo et al.2006b).
The abundance of WBT communities in the studied areas and geographical gradients indicate that WBT may be tolerant of adverse production conditions (Orcen 2013) and hence can grown under soil conditions (Table2) of the studied region. This may be important for the improvement of agroforest landscapes. High abundance in silvopastoral areas may be related to the incorporation of trees and crops that are able to biologically fix nitrogen (Al Sherif et al. 2004; Jose 2009; Pandey et al. 2011) or the responses of understorey to overstorey in agroforest landscapes (Perry et al. 2009). Forages at the inves-tigated areas are dried off during summer and the early autumn due to droughts that limit pasture growth. Therefore, fruit (C. sativa, Malus spp. Prunus spp. especially Corylus avellana) orchards and poplar (Populus spp.) and willow (Salix spp.) lands (Table1)
are one option used to provide green fodder during this period. However, such as an option can reduce the overall understorey pasture growth (Hussain et al. 2009; Nordenstahl et al.2011; Rusch et al.2014). The WTB populations from the silvopastoral areas may use as understorey plant to avoid undesirable effects of this option on forage productivity and understorey pasture growth in these areas. Thus, it may seem worthwhile to investigate the utilizable of the WTB populations from the silvopastoral areas for productive silvopastoral options and to increase forage production in natural and afforested pasture. Also, there is a strong need for research on the ability to fix nitrogen and buffers of the studied populations for pasture and silvopastoral areas with low to moderate tree and shrub density.
Correlation coefficients between geographical gra-dients and the nutritional properties of WBT popula-tions are presented in Table 3. Altitudinal, latitudinal and longitudinal variations in the DDM, DMI, RFV, ME, CP, ADF and NDF of tested WBT populations are presented in Table 4, whereas the corresponding variations in Ca, P, Ca/P, Mg, K, K/(Ca ? Mg) and CT concentrations are presented in Table 5. The nutritive value and mineral contents of the WBT populations were within the normal range (Karabulut et al.2006) and also were found to be comparable with other legumes (Arzani et al. 2006; Karabulut et al. 2007; Vahdani et al. 2014). Moreover, they were within values recommended by the NRC (2000,2001, 2007) for ruminant animals. These results confirmed other scientific suggestions (Moniello et al. 2005; Vuckovic et al. 2007). Although the correlation coefficients between longitude and DDM, DMI and RFV of WBT populations were significant (Table3), the nutritive value of WBT was not influenced (P [ 0.05) by seed origin (Table4). The effects of seeds from different altitudes (Ca: P = 0.038, Mg: P = 0.008), latitudes (Ca: P = 0.048) and longitudes (CP: P = 0.047, Ca: P = 0.003, Mg: P \ 0.001, Ca/ P: P = 0.012 and K/(Ca ? Mg): P = 0.004) on CP, Ca, Mg, Ca/P and K/(Ca ? Mg) concentrations were significant (Tables 4and5). These variations among populations in terms of CP, Ca, Ca/P, Mg and K/ (Ca ? Mg) concentrations may be related to the fact that there is evidence of inherent regional variation (Smith et al. 2009) in some traits (e.g. phenotypic, morphologic and agronomic). Therefore, seeds selected from the populations that have high feed
value can be used to improve the studied areas or artificial pasture and agroforest landscapes.
The effects of longitude for CP contents of the different WBT populations were quadratic (P \ 0.05). The CP content of the populations was within the range as reported by Ramı´rez-Restrepo et al. (2005). In the present study, the correlation between CP and altitude does not support that N concentration of leaf increased from the tropics to mid-latitudes and then remained stable or decreased at high latitudes (Reich and Oleksyn 2014) and that N concentration in plants increased with the latitudinal (Han et al.2012) and the altitudinal gradient (Singh and Todaria 2012). In contrast to our results, Mountousis et al. (2011) reported that ADF, NDF and gross energy contents of forages were affected by the altitudinal zone as well as by the season (Melaku et al. 2010). Protein, necessary for muscle development, growth and milk production is an important nutrient in animal produc-tion and is generally least expensive if supplied by forages. Both ADF and NDF values help to more accurately estimate feed intake, energy values and
animal performance. The DMI and ME values are a positive indicator of forage quality and an important component that makes up the diet of animals. In the present study, there were not different among the studied factors in terms of DDM, DMI, RFV, ME, ADF and NDF. Sun et al. (2014) showed that the plant parts selected by goats had higher CP and lower ADF and NDF than the whole plant, especially in the autumn and winter. Thus, our findings indicated that the maintenance requirements of grazing livestock may meet until late autumn without additional protein and energy sources.
The Ca content was lower in the populations at [1200 m of altitude compared to the populations in the other altitudes (P \ 0.05). The effect of the altitude was cubic (P \ 0.05) for the Mg content of populations. The Ca content of populations at low latitudes (40°340–40°590) was higher (P \ 0.05) than those of populations at high latitudes (41°020–41°530). For the Ca, Ca/P, Mg and K/(Ca ? Mg) concentra-tions of populaconcentra-tions, longitudinal effects were signif-icant and cubic (P \ 0.01). Therefore, our results on
Table 3 Descriptive statistic and correlation coefficient between geographical and the nutritive value, mineral and condense tannin contents of wild birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) from different geographical sites
Descriptive statistic Correlation coefficient
Mean SD Minimum Maximum Altitude Latitude Longitude
DDM 67.67 2.122 60.85 71.95 -0.08 -0.05 0.30** DMI 3.02 0.226 2.41 3.85 -0.11 0.02 0.18* RFV 158.73 16.171 113.73 214.76 -0.11 0.00 0.22* ME 9.50 0.360 8.35 10.23 0.08 0.02 0.08 CP 210.95 12.291 179.50 249.30 -0.07 -0.16 0.25** ADF 272.55 27.236 217.57 360.03 0.08 0.12 -0.30* NDF 399.55 30.007 311.57 497.73 0.12 -0.03 -0.19* Ca 18.64 1.197 15.80 21.87 0.28** 0.12 -0.18 P 2.84 0.299 2.27 3.53 -0.26** -0.13 0.24** Ca/P 6.56 1.016 4.57 9.04 0.28** 0.14 -0.23** Mg 3.55 0.302 2.90 4.33 0.36** -0.02 -0.26** K 12.26 1.893 10.00 19.07 -0.42** 0.08 0.15 K/Ca ? Mg 0.56 0.126 0.28 1.08 0.43** -0.05 -0.18* CT 24.20 2.997 17.84 33.96 0.03 0.19* -0.11
Values are means of 126 populations with three replicates
SD standard deviation, DDM digestible dry matter (%), DMI dry matter intake (% of body weight), RFV relative feed value (g kg-1 DM), ME metabolizable energy (MJ kg-1DM), CP crude protein (g kg-1DM), ADF acid detergent fiber (g kg-1DM), NDF neutral detergent fiber (g kg-1DM), Ca calcium (g kg-1DM), P phosphorus (g kg-1DM), Mg magnesium (g kg-1DM), K potassium (g kg-1DM), CT condense tannin (g kg-1DM)
longitude indicate that it had a strong effect on the mineral compositions of WBT populations, as reported by Pecetti et al. (2009) for forage legume species and cultivars. In the present study, though we do not have detailed environmental data for each sampling site, in general central longitudes have less rain and fog than the east and the western (TSMS 2013). This is probably why longitudinal effects are different in the west, the central, and the east.
Because legumes, including WBT, have higher concentrations of Ca and Mg than grasses, avoiding legume decrease in rangelands may be useful to prevent the tetany risk (Aydin and Uzun2008). Risk of tetany, causing yield decrease and death in cattle and sheep, increases by feeding forage with a ratio of K= Cað þ MgÞ 2:2 or the greater risk of grass tetany occurs at K/Mg ratio greater than 10:1 (Aydin and Uzun 2008). Indeed, K/(Ca ? Mg) and K/Mg ratios in all WBT populations were very lower than 2.2 and 10:1, resulting in tetany risk. Mineral contents and having the correct ratios of minerals (e.g. Ca/P, Ca/Mg, K/ (Ca ? Mg) and K/Mg ratios) in the forage as well as CP and ME contents and RFV of feeds play important role in animal development and growth. Deficiency of
P, an essential nutrient for all animals is the most widespread of all the mineral deficiencies affecting livestock. Besides, P must be balanced in the animal diet with adequate Ca and vitamin D for growth, reproduction, gestation, and lactation. The Ca/P ratio of forage is often discussed when investigating forage quality. An acceptable Ca/P ratio is between 1:1 and 7:1, as long as there is enough P to meet the P requirements of livestock (NRC 2000, 2001, 2007). Therefore, the Ca/P ratios of all WTB populations in the present study were within the desirable Ca/P ratio range. The results on mineral concentrations and ratios between minerals of WBT populations suggest that WBT is suitable not only to prevent abundance or risky of milk fever and tetany but also to increase Ca, P, Mg and K utilization of the ruminant animals (Kume et al.2001). Based on these findings and also reports (Minnee´ et al. 2007) on yields of birdsfoot trefoil, as a genetic resource, the populations collected from different altitudinal and geographical gradients can be selected for multiplication of quality forage production.
The variations in CT contents of WBT populations suggested that the level of secondary metabolites does
Table 4 Altitudinal, latitudinal and longitudinal variations in nutritive value of wild birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) from different geographical sites
SEM standard error of the mean, DDM digestible dry matter (%), DMI dry matter intake (% of body weight), RFV relative feed value (g kg-1DM), ME metabolizable energy (MJ kg-1DM), CP crude protein (g kg-1DM), ADF acid detergent fiber (g kg-1 DM), NDF neutral detergent fiber (g kg-1DM a,b Different superscripts within the same column indicate significant differences (P \ 0.05) n DDM DMI RFV ME CP ADF NDF Altitude \400 23 68.01 3.02 159.33 9.56 214.79 268.16 399.68 401–800 36 67.61 3.05 160.43 9.49 208.40 273.27 395.44 801–1200 47 67.53 2.99 156.64 9.48 211.47 274.30 404.13 [1200 20 67.70 3.04 159.91 9.51 209.91 272.22 396.02 P value 0.848 0.562 0.728 0.843 0.261 0.848 0.567 Latitude 40°340–40°590 74 67.61 3.03 158.94 9.49 210.51 273.32 398.71 41°020–41°530 52 67.75 3.01 158.43 9.52 211.58 271.47 400.74 P value 0.709 0.679 0.863 0.715 0.631 0.709 0.711 Longitude 31°160–31°560 17 68.38 3.06 162.23 9.63 216.74a 263.45 394.52 32°000–32°660 22 67.77 3.06 160.84 9.52 209.03a,b 271.23 395.53 33°020–33°590 22 67.39 3.01 157.54 9.46 210.13a,b 276.08 400.68 34°010–34°540 6 66.78 2.95 152.95 9.35 199.68b 283.94 407.37 35°010–35°590 23 68.28 3.07 162.70 9.61 214.82a 264.74 392.65 36°040–36°550 16 66.58 2.87 148.74 9.32 208.55a,b 286.57 420.25 37°120–37°550 15 67.82 3.08 162.26 9.53 208.00a,b 270.58 391.19 38°250–38°290 5 67.31 2.93 152.88 9.44 215.65a 277.14 410.53 P value 0.203 0.123 0.138 0.206 0.047 0.203 0.096 SEM 0.189 0.020 1.441 0.032 1.095 2.426 2.673
not change with change in the altitude, latitude and longitude of plant origin. The CT levels of populations were within normal ranges (up to 35 g kg-1DM) which have reduced rumen degradable nitrogen and increase N-use efficiency (Abberton et al. 2007), increasing the protein absorption of the small intestine (Min et al.2001; Ramı´rez-Restrepo et al.2006a). Thus, grazing of pasture or silvopastoral areas included WBT led to increased growth rate, fattening and reproductive performances, milk protein percentage, meat quality and bloat preven-tion (Ocak et al. 2006; Yamamoto et al. 2007) and reduced methane production and impact of gastroin-testinal parasites (Min et al.2001; Martin et al.2010).
Conclusions
As in the rest of the world, the WBT in pasture, rangeland and silvopastoral areas in Turkey have an important
position in ruminant production, and with further devel-opment can play an even larger role. This study provided information on genetic potentials of WBT populations in terms of nutritional properties. These data can use to obtain nutritional values in pasture and silvopastoral management studies. There were no specific trends in the chemical composition and the nutritive value of tested WBT populations when grown under the same conditions, although the relative ranking of populations at different locations should be consistent for the studied traits. Therefore, we recommend that the seeds of different altitudinal, latitudinal and longitudinal WBT populations could be selected for multiplication of Lotus for obtaining the nutritionally superior forage and to improve lands in silvopastoral system. Also, further studies are required to determine the possibility of using WBT populations as understorey plant for new silvopastoral combinations such as agrosilvopastoral and homegardening or orchard intercropping in countries as Turkey.
Table 5 Altitudinal, latitudinal and longitudinal variations in mineral and condense tannin contents of wild birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) from different geographical sites
n Ca P Ca/P Mg K K/(Ca ? Mg) CT Altitude \400 23 18.76a 2.89 6.54 3.65a 12.00 0.29 23.86 401–800 36 18.75a 2.85 6.71 3.52b 12.65 0.26 24.13 801–1200 47 18.80a 2.78 6.87 3.60a 12.02 0.28 24.32 [1200 20 17.94b 2.90 6.23 3.37c 12.43 0.26 24.46 P value 0.038 0.332 0.115 0.008 0.402 0.059 0.912 Latitude 40°340–40°590 74 18.82a 2.84 6.72 3.58 12.28 0.28 24.12 41°020–41°530 52 18.39b 2.84 6.58 3.51 12.24 0.27 24.32 P value 0.048 0.914 0.444 0.257 0.904 0.428 0.712 Longitude 31°160–31°560 17 18.82a,b 2.92 6.51b,c 3.63a,b 12.00 0.31a 23.82
32°000–32°860 22 18.91a,b 2.85 6.75a,b 3.63a,b 12.46 0.26a,b 24.49
33°020–33°590 22 18.59a,b 2.86 6.62b 3.48b 12.57 0.26a,b 23.92 34°010–34°540 6 19.69a 2.60 7.61a 3.71a 10.68 0.25b 24.82 35°010–35°590 23 18.23b 2.87 6.43b,c 3.45b,c 12.82 0.31a 24.22 36°040–36°550 16 19.26a 2.68 7.29a 3.78a 11.41 0.26a,b 24.02 37°120–37°550 15 17.84c 2.94 6.11c 3.38c 12.39 0.26a,b 23.90 38°250–38°290 5 18.23b 2.78 6.58b 3.33c 12.57 0.24b 26.15 P value 0.003 0.094 0.012 \0.000 0.143 0.004 0.870 SEM 0.107 0.027 0.091 0.027 0.169 0.005 0.267
SEM standard error of the mean, Ca calcium (g kg-1DM), P phosphorus (g kg-1DM), Mg magnesium (g kg-1DM) K potassium (g kg-1DM), CT condense tannin (g kg-1DM)
Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the financial support provided The Scientific and Technological Research Council, TUBITAK (TOVAG-108O658). The authors are grateful for the support of the staff and facilities of Field Crops Department, Agriculture Faculty, Ondokuz Mayis University and the Black Sea Agricultural Research Institute. The authors thanks for his critical editing of the manuscript to Dr. A.V. Garipoglu.
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