The breeding of reproductive characteristics, especially seed production potential along with the other economic features has received increasing attention. Despite of the wide geographical distribution of Sainfoin ( Onobrychis viciifolia Scop. ) in Iran there is limited studies about evaluation of genetic variation of species and seed traits in cultivated and wild varieties of it. Development of high yielding and compatible (adaptive) artificial varieties needs to germplasm evaluation, selection of superior genotypes and determination of appropriate parents among them. This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic variation of different sainfoin species in terms of seed production and related traits. Ninety-two genotypes from twenty-two species including twenty wild species along with two cultivated species were evaluated under non-stressed and drought stress environments using randomized complete block design with three replicates during two years (2015-2016) at research farm of Isfahan University of Technology (IUT). The results showed significant differences among species and high genetic variations among varieties within species. The highest value of coefficient variation in wild and cultivated species was observed for seed yield per plant. O. sintenisii showed the most days to flowering under both non-stressed and drought stress environments, and it placed in late category ( Keywords: Sainfoin- Genetic variation- Wild species- Moisture stress- Seed yield
