Field experiment was conducted to examine the winter hardiness and forage productivity of Chinese milkvetch (Astragalus sinicus L.) varieties at the research farm of Korea University in Kyunggi province. Collected variety Nonsan, Imsil, Jangheung, Chungnam, Joongsan and introduced PI241587 were tested to untreated control and vinyl mulching conditions during winter season.
Effect of vinyl mulching treatment was found no statistical significance in this experiment. Winter survival of six Chinese milkvetch varieties at the untreated control was average 88%. Variety Nonsan and Imsil showed higher fresh and dry weights than other varieties both on May 6 and 21 harvest. Average fresh weight per 10a of six varieties at the untreated control was 1, 583kg on May 6 and 4, 017kg on May 21 harvest. Crude protein content of dry matter of the varieties was average 21.3% on May 6 and 19.2% on May 21 harvest. However, average crude fiber content of the dry matter on May 6 was lower than that of May 21 harvest.