Hungarian vetch is native to eastern Europe and Caucasus and is well adapted to severe winter cold. The cultivation of this species is expanding rapidly in Turkey, replacing less productive Vicia spp. (Sabanci pers. comm.). Adapted to heavy soils it tolerates poorly drained soils better than other vetches (Duke 1981). The species has distinct promise as a grain crop as relatively non shattering lines are available. Similar to V. villosa it is an outbreeding species where fertilisation and fruit set can be increased by visits of pollinators (Zhang & Mosjidis 1995). Like all vetches, its main uses have been for hay and green manure. In Moldavia, Avedeni (1989), found lines with high cold tolerance, high biomass, seed weight, seed yield and protein content. ICARDA is focussing on the selection of genotypes with higher harvest index, reduced shattering and resistance to Ascochyta blight. Progress has been rapid and several lines have produced seed and biological yields equal to the best V. sativa lines with seed yields of 1372 kg/ha recorded at Tel Hadya, Syria. The species is extremely low in known vetch toxins (canavanine, beta cyano-alanine) in two samples examined. Bell & Tirimanna (1965) found low levels of VA3, recently identified as GEC (Enneking et al., 1998) in the seeds of this species but the seed is certainly worth testing by monogastric bioassay to assess its performance. Coupled with its resistance to extreme cold it is a potentially a very valuable feed, if not a food grain, and deserving of a greater breeding effort.” FrancisCM and others 1999 “When and where will vetches have an impact as grain legumes?’
There appear to be two or three varieties/strains: subspecies pannonica, purpurens & striata
Citations: http://legacy.tropicos.org/NameSearch.aspx?name=Vicia+pannonica
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-011-4385-1_34 ‘Vicia’
Enneking, D. (1997) Vicia pannonica Crantz (Hungarian vetch). Dryland Pasture, Network News. 14:25-26
Station Circular 46 June, 1923 Oregon Agricultural College Experiment Station JAMES P. JARDINE, Director CORVALLIS ‘Hungarian Vetch in Oregon’ By H. A. SCHOTH Assistant Agronomist, Forage Crop Investigations, United States De- partment of Agriculture, Cooperating with the Oregon Experiment Station
Francis, C. M.; Enneking, D.; Abd El Moneim, A. (1999) When and where will vetches have an impact as grain legumes? In: Knight, R. (ed.) Linking Research and Marketing Opportunities for Pulses in the 21st Century. Proceedings of theThird International Food Legume Research Conference, Adelaide 1997 . Current Plant Science and Biotechnology in Agriculture. Vol. 34. Kluwer Academic Publishers , Dordrecht/Boston/London, pp. 671-683
http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:525015-1