This study was conducted to determine digestibility and nutritive value of vetch and bitter vetch seed by proximate analysis of feed. In addition, digestibility coefficients of dry matter and nutrients of vetch and bitter vetch seed were measured. The chemical analysis indicated that percentage of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), crude fiber, (CP) ether extract (EE), nitrogen free extract (NFE) and Ash for vetch seed were 92.23, 87.42, 24.65, 7.76, 2.29, 52.72 and 12.58%, respectively. The similar analysis for bitter vetch seed were: 93.34, 88.99, 22.97, 9.50, 1.34, 55.18 and 11.01 %, respectively. In vivo digestibility coefficient of both vetch and bitter vetch seed were determined by using four Mehraban ram. The diets were formulated by using 40% straw plus 60% vetch or bitter vetch seed, based on maintenance requirement of sheep. The digestibility coefficients of DM, OM, CP, CF, EE and NFE of vetch seed were 90.02, 94.67, 85.83, 84.47, 79.84 and 97.90%, respectively. Similar measurements for bitter vetch seed, were 80.22, 82.81, 74.66, 52.60, 75.31 and 89.59%, respectively. These findings demonstrated that digestibility of vetch seed is significantly higher (P<0.05). Than bitter vetch seed. Total nutrient digestibility (TDN), Lara metabolic energy (ME), Net energy (NE) and Barerm unit of feed (UP) were 83%, 3032.93 Kcal/kg DM, 2032.93 Kcal/kg DM and 1.14 U.F./kg DM, respectively for vetch seed and were 74%, 2695.60, 1695.6 and 0.94 for bitter vetch seed. These results show that vetch seed is more valuable than bitter vetch as far as nutritive value is concerned.

In order to evaluate the water deficit stress tolerance of 16 bitter vetch genotypes, two experiments were conducted in the cropping year 2014-2015 using randomized complete block designs with three replications in two conditions non- stress and water deficit stress at the research farm of Razi University, Kermanshah. Combined variance analysis of the data showed that the effect of environment on most traits was significant. Different stress tolerance indices including stress susceptibility index (SSI), tolerance (TOL), geometric mean production (GMP), mean production (MP), stress tolerance index (STI), yield index (YI), yield stability index (YSI) and harmonic mean (HAM) were calculated based on the yield data in the both conditions. MP, GMP and STI indices showed positive significant correlation with yield in the both conditions, and YI and HAM indices were correlated with yield in the stress conditions. Therefore, they were appropriate indices for selection of tolerant genotypes. Based on the biplot of the first two main components, genotypes 2, 3, 10 and 16 were identified as suitable entries for the both conditions.

Introduction and Objective: Terminal heat stress as one of the major abiotic stresses has an important role in reducing growth and crop production in many areas of the world including central and southern Iran. Material and Methods: To evaluate the effect of terminal heat stress on grain yield and some its related traits in bitter vetch, a field experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications on 18 bitter vetch ecotypes from four provinces (East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan) in the Research Field of Faculty of Agriculture at Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Iran in 2020-2021 cropping seasons. The ecotypes planted in three sowing dates (13 Feb., 28 Feb. and 15 Mar.) and the data were combined and run in a combined analysis of variance. The sowing dates were considered the plant will end with the heat of season. Days to 50% flowering, days to flowering end, days to maturing end, plant height, root length, biomass, grain yield, thousand kernel weight and harvest index were measured. Results: The results of combined analysis of variance showed there were significant differences among the studied ecotypes for all traits in their reaction to terminal heat stress that were implicated high genetic diversity among ecotypes. According to the results of mean comparison of the evaluated traits, terminal heat stress (induced by delay in differnrt sowing dates) caused significant reduction in all traits except plant height and root length. Aso, the results showed that the interaction of sowing date and ecotypes had significant effects on the most of traits. Cluster analysis based on the measured traits at different sowing dates (13 Feb., 28 Feb. and 15 Mar.), was done and the studied bitter vetch ecotypes were divided into 3 groups in each sowing date. Conclusion: Regarding to the results, Maragheh and Bayghout ecotypes both from East Azerbaijan in terms of tolerance to terminal heat stress were superior to other ecotypes and recommended for direct planting in Rafsanjan condition or using in breeding programs for terminal heat stress.

The aim of this research was to assessment of drought tolerance in bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia L. ) ecotypes. For this purpose, ecotypes collected from four provinces (East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ardabil and Zanjan) of Iran, were evaluated using randomized complete block design with four replications in three separate experiments (, and mm water evaporation from A pan) during-growing season in the Research Field of Faculty of Agriculture at Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan. The result of combined analysis of variance showed there were significant differences at level between the ecotypes for all traits except thousand kernel weight in their reaction to drought stress. Drought stress caused decrease in stem height, root length, pod number per plant, seed number per pod, seed number per plant, biomass and grain yield, significantly. Ecotype Byghout produced the most biomass (by an average of g/m ) and grain yield (by an average of g/m ) over all irrigation levels. Means comparisons showed that ecotypes Ghareaghaj and Byghout (respectively) was more stable in biomass production as well as ecotypes Byghout and Saghazchi (respectively) was more stable in grain yield production across all irrigation levels. In general, these ecotypes that were less affected by drought stress can be used as promising genotypes in future breeding programs with the objective of enhanced drought resistance.

In order to study the effect of different intercropping patterns of maize with vetch, common bean, bitter vetch and berseem clover on some maize qualitative traits, an experiment was conducted as randomized complete block design with three replications in Agricultural Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, during two years. Treatments were two maize hybrids (704, 301), vetch (Vicia villosa), bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia), berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Cos 16) sole crops as well as intercrops of maize hybrids with each of the legumes in additive series. The results showed that forage yield of maize in intercropping with vetch and bitter vetch decreased. Digestible dry matter of forage maize in intercropping with legumes was increased. The highest digestible dry matter was achieved from 301 hybrid with bitter vetch, vetch and bean intercrops. Forage nutritive value, as indicated by Relative feed value (RFV), was improved in all legume-maize intercrops in relation to the sole maize crop. The RFV value was higher than 151 in the intercrops of maize hybrid 301 with bitter vetch and vetch. So, it can be stated that forage crop from intercropping of maize hybrid 301 with the mentioned legumes is considered as prime forage. The highest metabolisable energy (ME/D) of forage belonged to maize hybrid 301-bitter vetch and maize hybrid 301-vetch intercrops. In conclusion’s intercropping of maize hybrids with legumes improved the maize forage quality in terms of DDM, RFV and ME/D as compared with the sole cropping of maize.

Introduction Cereal-legume intercropping is a common approach in agricultural systems especially in developing countries. Bitter vetch is a forage legume that belongs to Fabaceae family. This plant can play a role in improving soil fertility by nitrogen fixation, which leads to the benefit of intercropping with forage grasses such as barley. Planting date and density are the determinants of optimal crop yield in intercropping systems. As the planting date changes, meteorological parameters (temperature, sunlight and… ) also change, and influencing plant growth and production. The purpose of determining the optimal planting date is to synchronize the growth stages of the plant. On the other hand, plant density varies with factors such as area differences, planting date, climatic conditions and soil type. Vicia ervilia L is a plant of the legume family, which is partly drought tolerant and compatible with most soils. In this research, the forage quality of bitter vetch was evaluated in additive intercropping pattern with barley as well as in different planting dates. Materials and Methods The experiment was carried out as a factorial arrangement based on randomized complete block design with 3 replications. The studied factors were included planting dates at three levels (simultaneous planting of bitter vetch and spring barley on March 25, planting of bitter vetch 10 and 20 days after planting of spring barley on April 5 and 16, respectively) and planting densities at four levels (12. 5, 25, 50 and 75%) in additive intercropping with spring barley. Bitter vetch and barley pure stands were considered as control treatments. Bitter vetch was harvested for forage at flowering stage. Forage quality indices including organic matter, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and mineral nutrients were measured in bitter vetch. Analysis of variance was performed using SAS software and means were compared by Duncan's method at the 1% probability level. Results and Discussion The results showed that the highest amount of organic matter, neutral and acid detergent fibers in bitter vetch forage were obtained in simultaneous planting of bitter vetch and spring barley. The lowest values were obtained in sowing bitter vetch 20 days after barley planting, while the highest amount of mineral elements including nitrogen, potassium, sodium and calcium was obtained from sowing bitter vetch simultaneous with barley planting. The delay in bitter vetch sowing makes the plant less likely to grow and increases intensity of its competition with barley for food resources, which reduces the content of forage nutrients contents. The highest phosphorus content was observed at the third planting date (20 days after sowing spring barley) with an average of 52. 40 ml. L-1 and was significantly different from other levels of planting date. It seems that the delay in bitter vetch sowing date and the decrease in vegetative growth and its competition with barley for mineral resources of soil did not have a decreasing effect on the phosphorus content and apparently the phosphorus content also increased in the delayed sowing conditions. Increasing bitter vetch density increased nitrogen, potassium and sodium levels of bitter vetch forage but decreased magnesium, phosphorus and calcium contents. Dry matter digestibility was not affected by sowing date, plant density and their interaction. The highest acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was belonged to 12. 5% and the lowest were for 75% bitter vetch density. The planting date of April 6 was preferable to other planting dates in terms of mineral elements and the bitter vetch density of 75% was better due to the reduction of NDF and ADF indices. Results of previous experiments showed that in cereal crops and legume intercropping, the contents of acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in forage were decreased. Conclusion In general, the results of this study indicate that the contents of mineral nutrients including calcium, sodium magnesium and phosphorus of forage were higher in intercropping treatments than pure cultivation and the amounts of organic matter and digestible dry matter of bitter vetch forage in simultaneous intercropping with barley were equal to those of pure cultivation. Decreased acid detergent fiber and neutral detergent fiber in forage and production of forage with higher contents of minerals including phosphorus, magnesium and calcium are benefits of intercropped bitter vetch and spring barley compared with soleculture.

IntroductionSilicon is increasingly recognized as a beneficial element for improving plant growth by enhancing physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses. It plays a role in various plant processes like osmosis, metabolism, stomatal physiology, and phytohormone relationships. Some researchers believe that silicon, as a signaling molecule, reduces damage caused by reactive oxygen species and ionic leakage by increasing the plant's antioxidant defense capacity. silicon plays a significant role in increasing the accumulation of photosynthetic materials in seeds; researchers attribute this increase to the flow of assimilates towards the seed, reduced source limitation, enhanced sink capacity, and improved remobilization of photosynthetic materials. The results indicate that silicon can affect the production and allocation of dry matter and the relationship between source strength and sink size. The consumption of silicon leads to favorable interactions with fertilizer elements such as potassium, thereby enhancing agronomic traits and improving the efficiency of this element to increase yield. Potassium plays a crucial role in osmotic control, enzyme activity, regulating cell pH, maintaining the balance between anions and cations within cells, controlling evaporation and transpiration through stomatal regulation, and aiding in the transport of metabolic materials from photosynthetic activities, ultimately improving yield by increasing leaf area and chlorophyll content. It has been shown that the application of silicon improves biomass, seed yield, and tiller number in several crops. Bitter vetch is a forage plant from the legume family and is native to regions in West and Southwest Asia, cultivated in various countries, including Iran. Bitter vetch is ecologically adaptable to drought and has always been of interest due to its high nutritional value, short growing period, and ability to fix soil nitrogen. The research aims to investigate the effect of silicon as a signaling molecule in nutrient remobilization in bitter vetch to enhance yield. Materials and MethodsIn order to investigate the effect of potassium silicate levels (control (distill water), 2/1000, 3/1000, 4/1000 and 5/1000) on bitter vetch plant yield, an experiment was conducted in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications at the Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. In this study, local seeds from Lorestan province were used. The seeds were manually planted at a depth of two centimeters in the soil in the first half of February 2022. The application of potassium silicate was carried out in two stages as foliar spraying. The first stage took place at the time of pod formation and 10 days after first application. At the end of the growth season, morphological traits including plant height, lowest pod hight, number of secondary branches in five plants, 1000- grain weight and yield traits were were measured and recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using the LSD method. Results and DiscussionThe application of potassium silicate significantly affected plant height, leaf canopy height, number of secondary branches, seed weight, seed yield, biomass, and harvest index. Silicon plays a role in strengthening the cell walls of stems and leaves, enhancing their physical strength, which can improve plant growth and light absorption by leaves, thereby stimulating plant growth. The results showed that the highest grain yield and biological yield in the foliar spraying treatment were 5/1000 and 4/1000 potassium silicate, which increased by 28 and 44%, respectively, compared to the control. In addition, the highest plant height, the number of branches and the weight of 1000- grain weight were observed in treatment of 5/1000 potassium silicate. The results showed that grain yield has a positive and significant correlation with the number of sub-branches (r = 0.51**), 1000- grain weight (r = 0.65**) and biological yield (r = 0.46**), respectively. In the present experiment, the positive and significant correlation of seed yield with the weight of 1000- grain weight and biomass shows that the process of transferring and distributing photosynthetic products to the reservoir is directly related to the source. The application of potassium silicate had a positive impact on various physiological processes, leading to increased biomass production and ultimately enhancing seed yield. ConclusionThe application of potassium silicate significantly increased seed yield and had positive effects on various yield components of bitter vetch plants. Silicon application during the formation of sheath and sheath development enhances the translocation of photosynthetic materials to reproductive organs, ultimately improving plant performance.

This work was aimed to investigate the potential preparation of an biodegradable film preparation from bitter vetch seed protein and determine some of its physicochemical properties. The film was cast from bitter vetch protein concentrate (BPC) (5 g/ 100 ml alkaline water) and glycerol (50% w/w of BPC). The moisture content (MC), color, tensile strength (TS), elongation to break (EB), water vapor permeability (WVP) and surface hydrophobicity of the film were measured. The film with MC of 27.69%, TS 5.04 MPa and WVP 0.72 (gmm/KPa.h.m2) ws comparable with other protein films but its red and yellow indices in color (a=22.41 and b=37.20) and EB were higher than other protein based-films. Its surface hydrophobicity (49.83o) was higher than that of soy and sodium caseinate protein films and lower than red bean protein film. In general, according to the results, it seems that the film obtained from BPC has a good potential to be used in packaging applications.

In order to determine bitter vetch and vetch and alfalfa digestibility via in vivo and in vitro method, an experiment was conducted with 16 Ghezele wethers. In this experiment the digestibility was determined through regression equations correlation coefficient was calculated between in vivo and in vitro methods. The chemical analysis of alfalfa and bitter vetch were determined. In in vivo method, four trents containing 0, 25, 50 and 75 percent of bitter vetch were considered with alfalfa based diet, In this method, digestibility of all nutrients except crude fiber and ADP were increased significantly with increased bitter vetch leaves but a significant difference was not observed between crude protein digestibilities in rations containing 50 and 75% of bitter vetch. Relationship between bitter vetch levels and all of digestible nutrients waslinear and its r2 was 98%. In the method of in vitro, dry matter, organic matter and organic matter per dry matter of ration were increased with increasing of bitter vetch ratio from zero to 100%but there was not any significant difference between organic matter and organic matter per dry matter between zero and 25% of bitter vetch levels. The correlation coefficients between results of in vivo and in vitro methods on dry matter, organic matter and D-value for alfalfa were 99, 99 and 97 and bitter vetch was 97, 98 and 96 respectively. Among treatments, feed containing 50% alfalfa and 50% bitter vetch had the highest voluntake, but metabolizable energy from intake containing 25% alfalfa and 75% bitter vetch was the highest. It is worth mentioning that concentration of metabolizable energy increased with increasing of bitter vetch ratio.