Effects of Planting Date and Low Irrigation on Quantitative and Qualitative Traits of Flax Seed

摘要

When there is a shortage for available water, low irrigation stress is one method to maintain productivity. Therefore, a study was conducted to determine the effect of planting date and low irrigation stress on two Spring varieties of Flax seed during Spring, 2008 in College of Abouraihan, University of Tehran, Iran. The highest plant height (60.3 cm), primary branch number per plant (4.46), capsule number per plant (65.9), seed number per capsule (5.78), seed yield (1763 kg h-1), biologic yield (5935 kg h-1), harvest index (29.9 ), oil percentage (41), oil yield (718 kg ha-1), protein yield (361 kg ha-1), linolenic percentage (48.4) and linoleic percentage (18.36) obtained in first sowing date and under full irrigation whereas by later sowing dates and limited irrigation stress especially at flowering and grain filling stages, this characters were reduced. The most oil yield (454 kg ha-1) and linoleic (18.81) acid percentage obtained from serenade variety whereas lirina variety had the highest oil percentage (42.25), linolenic (47.9) and oleic (24.1) acids percentage. In this study, sowing date was a very important management tool in minimizing the negative impact of high temperature and moisture stress during the critical flowering and seed filling periods.