below the ground, decreases the number of aerial pods, and increases the number of underground pods.
       Under heavy clipping, the plants maintain themselves on underground pods only. The two types of pods represnt the ingenuity of nature in protecting this species: the aerial pods increase the distribution of

pecific to the Mediterranean region, the underground vetch is prevalent in Central Anatolia of Turkey, western Asia, Europe, and northern Africa. It grows in areas with poor soils mixed with stones, usually referred to as marginal lands, and is more common in hilly areas. The ability of this underground vetch to sur-

Nature is a vault of secrets, its proportions unimaginable. Some of these secrets have been discovered, yet many remain to be unlocked. An interesting creation of nature is a feed legume, called underground vetch (Vicia sativa subsp. amphicarpa) or Bekia in local language in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. The most striking characteristic of this vetch is that it flowers and produces pods both above and below the ground (hence amphi, meaning both sides; carp, meaning fruit). ICARDA is using this characteristic in its research on sustainable agriculture for the drylands.

vive the harsh conditions of marginal lands with low rainfall (about 250 mm per year), and to produce herbage and pods, which provide nutritious feed for livestock, are both important characteristics which ICARDA is harnessing to rehabilitate degraded rangelands and increase feed production for small ruminants (sheep and goats). 
The WANA region is facing an ever-increasing pressure on its land resources due to rapidly growing human population. The demand for meat and dairy products is outsripping the supply. Desperate to meet feed shortages, the livestock farmers are forced to graze their animals on land that has very little vegetation left. This is causing degradation of grazing lands through soil erosion and loss of native, naturally-growing plant species. Since barley is used as animal feed in WANA, the shortage of other kinds of feed, including forage legumes, has triggered continuous barley cultivation in marginal lands by farmers. This practice is not eco-friendly because it is leading to depletion of nutrients in the soil and, consequently, low yields of barley. Overgrazing and continuous barley cultivation are aggravating the threat of desertification.
      In marginal lands, expansion of underground vetch cultivation can augment feed supply. Being a legume, vetch helps in enriching the soil by fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere. A vetch/barley rotation can help to break the cycle of continuous barley cropping. The nitrogen added to the soil in the vetch phase helps increase barley yields.
     The aerial flowers of vetch are blue-purple, while the underground flowers are white and much smaller. The underground flowers are more fertile than their exposed counterparts. About 80% of underground flowers produce pods. In the case of aboveground flowers, less than 50% develop into pods. The location of the underground flowers probably protects them from environmental factors harmful to pollen formation and fertility. The underground pods are white, in contrast to the chlorophyll-containing green pods found above the ground. Underground pods have fewer, larger seeds than aerial pods (2.0 vs 5.5 g/100-seed weight), and the seeds are usually pale compared with greenish-black in aerial pods.
       Because little is known about the productivity, agronomy, and ecology of amphicarpic vetch species, ICARDA, in coopera-

the species to sui-able habitats, while the underground pods increase the probability of its survival under heavy grazing and drought.
      The potential of this vetch was studied under natural grazing by sheep in rotation with barley. It was grown in large experimental plots and allowed to be grazed by sheep at the end of February, end of March, and end of April. Plots were left without grazing along with barley plots during the year of establishment. During the grazing year, the herbage grazed by sheep was 730, 830, and 900 kg/ha compared to 2000 kg/ha obtained from non-grazed plots. The underground seed yields were 210, 1000, and 1380 kg/ha, respectively, compared to 3800 kg/ha from non-grazed experiments.
       Barley variety 'Atlas 46' was
planted on the same plots where vetch grew before. It was found that barley after barley produced significantly less biological and grain yields than barley after underground vetch. Grain yield of barley after underground vetch was 2.2 t/ha, whereas, after barley, it was only 1.4 t/ha. Grazing underground vetch had no effect on the productivity of barley. During the barley phase, the seed bank of underground vetch was monitored. The seed bank at the end of the barley phase was around 300 kg/ha. After the barley phase, the underground seeds germinated (self-regeneration) after the first rain. The result was a dense pasture without any external inputs. The productivity of the self-regenerated pasture was around 4 t/ha, and it could be grazed by sheep in the spring.
      ICARDA's work on unlocking the potential of this vetch for reseeding degraded rangelands and increasing feed production is attracting the attention of farmers in several countries. National partners have intensified
their research on this vetch, using
ICARDA-improved lines to increase the marginal land productivity in Egypt (the Mersa Matrouh Project), Pakistan, Turkey, and Syria. This pasture legume has potential to be grown elsewhere in the world where agroclimatic conditions are similar to the Mediterranean region, for example, in South Africa, southern Australia, North Africa, and Chile.
      The naturally-occurring accessions of underground vetch have low herbage yield. A crossing program at ICARDA is making progress in increasing the herbage yield of this vetch by crossing it with promising, high-yielding lines of common vetch.
       The underground vetch can help make dry areas greener, with substantial benefits of preventing soil erosion and increasing livestock production, and can be used in ley farming in rotation with barley. It benefits the barley crop through its nourishment of the soil with nitrogen fixation and, even more importantly, it can withstand tillage during the cereal phase.
      Working with nature, not against it, for a better tomorrow for the people living in the dry areas, is the key component of ICARDA's strategy.
   

Dr Ali M. Abd-El Moneim is Senior
Forage Legume Breeder and
Dr S. Varma is Head of Information
Services at ICARDA.

tion with its national partners, organized several collection missions to gather samples of vetch species from their natural habitats in Central Anatolia region of Turkey, where drought and heavy grazing are common, as well as from other countries. The Center's gene bank now holds about 150 accessions of underground vetch and 3572 of other Vicia spp., collected from Afghanistan, Algeria, Ethiopia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey. This is the largest collection of these species in any gene bank in the world.
      Several studies have been carried out at ICARDA to assess the productivity of herbage and seed of the underground vetch, its ability to grow in rotation with barley in the marginal, low-rainfall areas, and its capacity to regenerate after heavy grazing. The results show that the ability of underground vetch to produce both aerial and underground seeds increases under heavy grazing. Over 90% of the aerial seeds are soft and germinate within 10-15 days. In the same period of time, only 2% of underground seeds germinate, because they are hard. Under natural conditions, the underground flowering takes place two weeks earlier than the aerial one. This ensures priority in the development and allocation of nutri

ents by the plant to the underground fruits.
      Drier conditions favor earlier underground
flowering; consequently, the number of underground pods is higher than that of aerial pods in a dry year. When growing season is too short due to unfavorable distribution of rainfall and prolonged drought periods in the early spring, a high proportion of plants produce only underground pods. Clipping of aerial shoots stimulates basal branching both above and