New morphotypes structuring Medicago minima (L.) Bartal. populations in various climate environments

Abstract

Medicago minima (L.) Bartal. is a member of the Fabaceae family, which grows in arid and semi-arid environments. This species is of great interest, especially from agronomy, however, so little research devoted to this subject. This study aimed to investigate the morphological diversity of the Tunisian M. minima populations using the agro morphological markers. Statistically confirmed, our results suggest the presence of a large variability between all M. minima populations. The inter-populations differences are significant for almost of the pheno-morphological and agronomic studied traits. According to the PCA analysis (based on the individual data of 300 plants) and the HCPC analysis (based on population data), M. minima plants could be classified into three groups. The shape of the plant, internode length, date of blooming are a useful trait to distinguish and classify M. minima plants into three groups (variety or forms). This considerable variation indicates a high genetics potential for selection. Mainly, this study reveals pheno-morphological traits that discriminate M. minima varieties and highlight their agronomic traits. These results could be useful for the botanical description for the conservation of M. minima’s natural resources. It can also provide valuable information for breeding purposes.