YIELD AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF SOME ALFALFA (Medicago sativa L.) VARIETIES GROWN IN THE EASTERN TURKEY

This research was carried out between 2009 and 2011 to determine the herbage yield and some agricultural and quality characteristics of alfalfa varieties under the ecological conditions of Eastern Anatolia, Gurpinar, Van Turkey. Six alfalfa varieties were grown, including domestic Kayseri, Bilensoy-80 and Van Native (ecotype) in addition to varieties Planet, Plato and CW-3567 of foreign origin. It was found that means of alfalfa varieties ranged from 77.9 to 82.3 cm for plant height; from 29.9 to 33.4 for number of main stems per plant; from 8.32 to 9.38 % for crude ash and from 16.55 to 17.55 % for protein content. The differences among the varieties for certain traits were not statistically significant. However, Van Native (43575 kg ha(-1)) and CW3567 (43242 kg ha(-1)) gave high fresh herbage yields whereas CW-3567 (16201 kg ha(-1)), Van Native (15519 kg ha(-1)) and Kayseri (15194 kg ha(-1)) gave high hay yields. Beside, CW-3567 (2827 kg ha(-1)) was the best variety for crude protein yield. Based on the results of the study, it could be said that cultivar CW-3567 could be recommended to be grown under the ecological conditions of Eastern Anatolia.