Effect of Water Deficit Stress at Various Growth Stages on Yield, Yield Components and Water Use Efficiency of Five Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) Cultivars

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In order to study the effect of water deficit stress at various growth stages on yield, yield components and water use efficiency of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) cultivars, a field experiment was conducted as split-plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2009-2010 growing seasons in Abarkouh, Iran. Full irrigation based on four different soil water depletion regimes were applied to the main plots including: 40% of available water depletion (AWD) during full growth period (I­1), 80% of AWD during stem elongation stage to maturity (I2­), 80% AWD from flowering stage to maturity (I­3) and 80% AWD from seed filling stage to maturity (I4). Five rapeseed cultivars as sub plot units including: Hayola­401, Zarfam, Modena, Sarigol and Option­500 were investigated. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant (P≤0.01) differences among irrigation levels for yield, yield components and water use efficiency.­ In this study, insufficient soil moisture at the three growth stages, reduced yield components such as seed number per pod and 1000-seed weight by 13.3% and 15.6%, respectively, and led to reduced seed yield as much as 21.4% compared to the control. Reduction of seed yield in each three treatments I­2, I­3 and I­4 was mainly due to reduction in pods and seeds per pod. Water use efficiency decreased more in I2, I3 and I4 treatments than the control. Among the cultivars, Hayola­401 had the highest water use efficiency. Statistical comparisons showed that Zarfam cultivar produced the highest seed yield (4006 kg ha-1) and Option500 produced the lowest seed yield (2515 kg ha-1).

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