IRANIAN JOURNAL OF DRYLAND AGRICULTURE
Year:2018 | Volume:7 | Issue:1|Papers Count:6

This research was carried out to evaluate some agronomic characteristics and forage yield in two types of vetch and barley bi-culturing under Mahabad rainfed conditions. The treatments consisted of pure stands along with seed mixture of smooth vetch (cv. Maragheh) with barley (cv. Abidar) at 1: 1, 1: 2 and 2: 1 seeding ratio as strip intercropping (different rows) and mixed seeding in a randomized complete block design with three replications. There were significant differences between treatments in terms of spring green coverage, plant height, days to flowering and forage yield. Plant height and forage yield in pure barley stands were more than mixed treatments. However, forage yield in mix cropping was 500% greater than pure vetch stands. The highest dry forage yield (3187 kg/ha) was obtained from 1: 1 mix cropping of Maragheh and Abidar. There were no significant differences between two types of mix cropping in this experiment. Land equivalent ratio (LER) were more than 1 in all bi-cultures however, The highest LER (1. 35) was obtained from 1: 1 mixture of Maragheh and Abidar which could be recommended for autumn cultivation in Mahabad and similar conditions.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of optimum nitrogen application rates and supplemental irrigation on agronomic characteristics and grain yield of bread wheat cultivars in Koohdash under rainfed conditions. The experiments were carried out split-split-plot in randomized complete block design arrangements from 2013-2015 cropping years. The irrigation treatments (rainfed, irrigation at planting, planting + flowering stages with rates of 50 mm), two cultivars (Karim and Koohdasht) and different nitrogen rates (0, 60 and 120 kg/ha) were arranged in main plots, sub-plots and sub-subplots, respectively. The results showed that grain yield, biological yield and number of spike/m2 were significantly increased, but there was not any significant difference between two levels of nitrogen application. Therefore, the most appropriate management of nitrogen application is 60 kg/ha, considering economic issues. Also, the supplemental irrigation significantly increased grain yield, however no significant differences observed between irrigation treatments. Considering economic issues, it can be concluded that irrigation at planting was superior in comparison to rainfed and irrigation at planting + flowering stages. Although, the main effect of cultivar was not significant for traits, but Karim cultivar produced the highest grain yield under supplemental irrigation at planting and nitrogen application of 60 kg/ha. Finally, it can be concluded that wheat grain yield can be improve using supplemental irrigation management and nitrogen under rainfed conditions.

In this study, the pattern and efficiency of energy consumption for wheat production was investigated through data envelopment analysis in Chardavol Township, Ilam Province. The results showed that fuel energy, seed and Ness fertilizer with respective percent of 48, 22 and 19 had the highest and work force energy, pesticide and oil with respective percent of 24, 45 and 64 had the lowest share among inputs energy. The average of total entranceenergy input and output for producing dry farming wheat in the region were 10532. 90 MJ/ha-1 and 31568. 98 MJ/ha-1 respectively. The mean of energy ratio, energy productivity, energy intensity and net surplus energy were 3. 04, %13 kg/MJ-1, 8. 21 MJ/kg-1 and 21036. 07 MJ/ha-1 respectively. The share of direct and indirect, form the total consuming energy were %49/15 and %51/85 respectively. Farmers efficiency was calculated through data envelopment analysis (DEA) in CCR and BCC models using EMS software. Technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency were %88, %97 and %91 respectively. The amount of input energy optimized by the return model to the scale variable was 8397. 37 MJ/ha-1. The amount of total savable energy in the current condition of the studied region was %17. 97 in the BCC model.

In order to study the effects of weed interference and mycorrhiza (Funn eliformis mosseae) on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of chickpea, the recent study was carried out in 2016-2017 at Agricultural Research Center of West Azarbayjan. The treatments included mycorrhiza symbiosis in two levels (with and without) and weeds competition in four levels (control, grass pea, chicory and grass pea) which were arranged as factorial plots based on randomized complete block design in three replications. The plant characteristics were studied in terms of number of nitrogen fixing nodules, seed protein, leaf temperature, percentage of colonization, biological yield and grain yield. In addition, dry matter production in chicory and grass pea were measured. The highest number of nodules per chickpea root (24. 41) were obtained by using mycorrhiza and weeds (chicory and grass pea) while the lowest number of nodules per chickpea root (12. 91) were observed in presence of weeds without mycorrhizal symbiosis which shows a significant difference between these two (89%). The results showed that the highest grain yield (915. 6 Kg/ha) was achieved in control treatment (without weed plus using mycorrhiza) while the lowest belonged to the treatment without mycorrhiza and in presence of weeds (395. 6 Kg/ha), which showed 131% difference between these two treatments. In general, using mycorrhiza as input led to increased number of nodules per root and improved the grain yield of chickpea under dry-land conditions.

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of three sowing times (fall, entezari and spring) on agronomic characteristics, seed yield and oil content of 15 safflower genotypes under rainfed conditions in moderate cold and cold regions of Iran. Field experiments were conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications in the Dryland Agricultural Research stations Sararood-Kermanshah and Maragheh during two cropping seasons 2011-2013. Results of combined ANOVA showed that the main effects of year, planting date, genotype and their interactions were significant for some of the traits in both locations. In Sararood, winter (fall or entezari) sowings showed higher values of the traits than spring sowing, but yields did not differ significantly between fall and entezari sowings. The highest seed yield in fall and entezari sowings (687 and 705 Kg/ha, respectively) and the lowest in spring sowing (331 Kg/ha) was observed. In Maragheh, fall sowing also showed superiority for most of the traits. However, the average seed yield of sowing times (fall, entezari and spring) were not significantly differerent (645, 569 and 648 Kg/ha, respectively). There were no significant differences between fall and spring sowing dates for oil content in both of locations. Winter (fall or entezari) sowings for Sararood and entezari and spring sowings for Maragheh were recommended. In both of stations, no relationship was found between yield and its components so, direct selection for yield were more appropriate. According to the sowing times, different genotypes to obtain the highest rainfed yield potential were selected in both locations.

The importance of crop production stability during water shortage is increasingly serious due to the growing population in the world. Regarding possibility effects of nanotitanium and nano-silicone on wheat growth and development under drought stress conditions, the present study was conducted using split plot experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the Plant Production and Genetics department, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh. Differenr watering levels (irrigation in 90% of field capacity as non-stress condition, irrigation in 75% of the field capacity as a medium stress and irrigation in 50% of the filed capacity as a severe stress) was arranged in main plot and application of nano-particles (dry seed, 0. 5%, 1%, 1. 5%, 2% of nano-titanium and nano-silicone spraying) was arranged in sub-plots. The results of analysis of variance showed that interaction effect of nano-particles application and drought stress on dry weight, leaf area, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoid, total chlorophyll, 1000 grain weight, superoxide dismutase, Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn-SOD, Fe-SOD, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidase, hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde, proline at 1% probability level, and the activity of catalase were significant at 5% probability level. The mean comparison showed that the highest impact of nano-titanium and nano-silicon on the antioxidant system and chlorophyll and hydrogen peroxide levels was recorded for watering treatments at 50 and 70% of the field capacity and high levels of those materials (1. 5 and 2%). According to the chlorophyll content, leaf area, dry weight and yield results under drought stress conditions, application of 2% nano-titanium had the most beneficial effects, compared to the silicon on plants and it can be recommend as a result of this study for similar experimental conditions.