Growth Characters and Yield of Some Selected Lines of Common and Narbon Vetch

Vicia includes several economically useful food and forage legume crops. Among these, are Vicia sativa (common vetch) and Vicia narbonensis (Narbon vetch). The present study was carried out to evaluate seventeen lines of V. sativa and six lines of V. narbonensis for adaptability and yield under Riyadh conditions. Parameters studied included days to flowering, days to maturity, plant height, seed and biological yield and harvest index. Differences among selection lines were highly significant for all traits, while the year effect was significant for days to flowering and highly significant for biological yield and harvest index. Year × line interaction was also highly significant for all studied characters in both seasons except for plant height. The best yielding selections of V. sativa were lines 2019 and 2556 while that of V. narbonensis were lines 2380 and 2383. Plant Production Department, College of Agriculture, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.