Cytological characterisation of the underutilized forage crop Onobrychis viciifolia Scop. and other members of the Onobrychis genus

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) is a perennial forage legume that possesses beneficial properties in the context of sustainable agriculture. A germplasm collection of O. viciifolia was assembled from many geographic regions, as well as a collection of Onobrychis species that might be crossed with O. viciifolia to improve its biological and agronomic properties. The objective of the present study was to obtain cytological information for a broad range of O. viciifolia varieties and related species, in order to confirm and extend previous findings. The study set was 143 accessions of O. viciifolia as well as 34 accessions of 17 other species from the Onobrychis genus. Three of the O. viciifolia accessions were diploid (2n = 2x = 14) and the remainder tetraploid (2n = 4x = 28). Chromosomes were <5 μm in length. Among the other Onobrychis species, roughly half were found to be diploid and the other half tetraploid, with two species, O. arenaria (Kit.) DC. and O. alba subsp. laconica (Orph. ex Boiss.) Hayek, including a mixture of diploid and tetraploid accessions. The basic number of chromosomes was seven, except for O. aequidentata (Sm.) d’Urv. and O. crista-galli Lam., where it was eight. The 2C value for O. viciifolia was estimated at 2.5 pg. These cytological data will be valuable as part of a pre-breeding programme aimed at the eventual production of improved O. viciifolia varieties for use in sustainable agriculture.