Yield and Quality of Fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum-Graecum L.) as Influenced by Different Sowing Rates and Different Genotypes

Abstract

The current research was performed in order to define the effects of four different sowing rates (ranged from 10 to 40 kg ha(-1) with 10 kg ha(-1) increments) on yield and yield components of two fenugreek genotypes (Eskisehir and Ankara) at Bitlis ecological conditions in 2009-2010 growing seasons. A completely randomized design with three replications was conducted for this study. Differences between sowing rates were significantly associated with oil content, the number of seeds per pod, number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant and seed yield per plant. Higher sowing rates (30 and 40 kg ha(-1)) reduced the rate of oil content, number of branches per plant, number of seeds per pod, number of pods per plant, and seed yield per plant. Differences in sowing rates had no effect on a thousand seeds' weight, plant height, protein content, the number of seeds per pod and the pod length. The highest seed yield (1.28 g plant(-1)) was recorded from 10 kg ha(-1). The seed yield per plant revealed the highest association with number of seeds per pod and number of branches, indicating that the selection performed on these traits would be effective to increase the seed yield. Results showed that, on average, fenugreek seeds contain 6.08%-7.32% oil. After analyzed by GC MS, the seed oil content of two fenugreek genotypes were as follows: oleic acid (15.72-16.02%), linoleic acids (39.72-40.85%), linolenic acid (25.01-26.05%), stearic acid (4.42-4.51%) and palmitic acid (10.98-12.56%). Fenugreek genotypes showed high quantities of linolenic acid which placed it into the drying oil category.