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