forage production of eight annual medic cultivars under rainfed conditions of golestan province

medics are native to semi-arid areas around the mediterranean sea and have long been used in degraded pastures in the region. annual medics are now widely distributed throughout the world, largely in areas with mild, rainy winters and alkaline soils. this study was conducted at a site located in the north east of golestan province (55° 57´ e, 37° 48´ n), on a silty clay loam soil in 2002 and 2003. the experimental design was a random-ized complete block with four replications. cultivars were seven annual medics (includ-ing: medicago truncatula cv. caliph, mogul; m. scutellata cv. sava, robinson; m. poly-morpha cv. spineless; m. litoralis cv. herald; m. sphaerocarpas cv. orion) in addition to the indigenous annual medic m. minima. results showed significant differences among cultivars (p