Investigating the effect of boron levels on the quantitative and qualitative yield of medicinal-oil plant varieties of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)
Subject Areas : Plant Biology
Mohammad Reza Zargaran Khouzani
1
*
,
Mohammad Hossein Gharineh
2
,
Malihe Jahani
3
,
Sedighe Jahani
4
1 - Ph.D. Student of Agrotechnology, Department of Plant Genetics and Production Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Khuzestan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Khuzestan, Iran
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Khuzestan Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Khuzestan, Iran
3 - Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), boron, oil yield, seed yield, leaf area index,
Abstract :
Abstract Introduction: Safflower plant (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a medicinal and industrial plant that has many uses in the field of medicinal uses, and its main use is for the oil seeds of plant. Objective: With the aim of determining the effect of different levels of boron fertilizer on the yield and quality of safflower varieties, an experiment was conducted during the crop year 2017-2018 in a research farm in Shoushtar city. Materials and methods: This research was carried out as factorial in the form of randomized complete block design with three replications. The first factor was the safflower variety in three levels (Isfahan, Goldasht, Sofeh) and the second factor was the boron fertilizer content in five levels (zero, two, four, six and eight kilograms per hectare). Results: The results showed that the variety factor had a significant effect on the leaf area index, the number of pods per square meter, the number of seeds per pod, the weight of 1000 seeds, seed yield, harvest index, oil yield and boron concentration in the whole plant. The amounts of boron fertilizer also showed a significant effect on leaf area index, number of pods per square meter, weight of 1000 seeds, seed yield, harvest index, oil yield and boron concentration in the whole plant. Isfahan variety had the highest seed yield with an average of 1110.4 kg per hectare and the highest oil yield with an average of 267.59 kg per hectare. Also, among the levels of boron fertilizer, the level of four kilograms of boron per hectare had the highest seed yield and oil yield, respectively, with averages of 1148.67 and 280.73 kg per hectare. Grain yield increased with boron application, and levels of two, four and six kilograms did not have a significant difference with each other. But the higher consumption of this element up to the level of eight kilograms per hectare caused a decrease in grain yield. Conclusion: The use of micronutrient element boron increased the yield of safflower seeds and oil by increasing the yield components, especially the number of seeds per square meter and thousand seed weight. The significant effect of application of boron element on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of safflower shows that in order to reduce the environmental effects caused by excessive use of chemical fertilizers, the use of micronutrient elements as an efficient management solution in the production of crops is suitable.