Document Type : Research Paper
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Abstract
In order to study the effect of irrigation regimes and potassium fertilizer yield and yield components of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) as a medicinal plant, a field experiment was conducted in a factorial design based on randomized complete blocks with three replications. The experiment was performed on a winter safflower genotype (Goldasht) at the experimental farm of Ghazvin during cropping season 2009-2010. Four irrigation regimes including 60 (Control), 100, 140 and 180mm evaporation from evaporation pan (Class A) and four levels of potassium fertilizer including 0 (Control), 50, 100 and 150 kg.ha-1 comprised the experimental factors. Results showed that with increasing irrigation level, seed yield, plant height, stem diameter, number of branches per plant, head diameter, number of heads per plant and number of seeds per head increased significantly; as the seed yield of the irrigation based on 60mm evaporation was 110% higher than the that of irrigation based on 180mm evaporation. All traits also increased significantly with increasing potassium content. As application of 150kg.ha-1 potassium increased the seed yield by 58% compared to the control treatment. The interaction effect of irrigation and potassium was significant on all traits except stem diameter and head diameter. In irrigation based on 60mm evaporation, application of 150 kg.ha-1 potassium increased seed yield by 35% compared to the control treatment but in irrigation based on 180mm evaporation, it was increased by 130%. According to the results, application of potassium fertilizer showed positive effects on yield and yield components of safflower in sever and moderate water stress conditions.
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