Yield of dye safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) varieties influenced by row spacing and seeding rates in the Volgograd region of Russia

Abstract

Safflower is a crop capable of growing and forming a crop of seeds to obtain vegetable oils suitable for use for food and technical purposes. Agricultural land in the Volgograd region of Russia is insufficient in soil moisture, therefore, for a guaranteed harvest and the production of vegetable oils, dyed safflower is sown. Moreover, the safflower crop is relatively new for farmers for which various agro-technological areas are to be explored for cost-effective cultivation of the crop. Therefore, this study was conducted during2020 - 2021on an experimental plot, with light chestnut soils, safflower was sown for research according to its predecessor - black fallow. The climate of the area where the experiments were carried out is considered arid, with rare, unproductive precipitation, the HTC in the summer season is 0.1-0.3, the soil moisture reserve in the meter layer is 87.2 mm, the vegetative period of safflower plants is up to 124 days. Since autumn, the main tillage was carried out - disking, in the spring, spring harrowing in two tracks, followed by pre-sowing cultivation. The varieties of dye safflower included in the experiment were Alexandrite, Zavolzhsky 1, Volgogradsky 15 andKamyshinsky73. The experimental crop was sown using three row spacings of 15, 30 and 45 cm. Three seeding rates viz., 250, 350 and 450 thousand seeds/ha were used for each variety under different row spacings. The experimental variants were replicated three times. The yield data of safflower was analyzed using the Microsoft Office Excel program subjected to dispersion analysis with a purpose to establish the optimal methods for sowing safflower in the light chestnut soils of Nizhnevolzhsky region. The study revealed that the highest yield (1.13 t/ha) was recorded in safflower variety Alexandrite with a row width of 15 cm, and the seeding rate of 350 thousand seeds/ha. The lowest yield of 0.61 t/ha was recorded in variety Kamyshinsky 73 under wide row spacing of 45 cm, with a seeding rate of 450 thousand seeds/ha. The results highlight that the seeding rate and variety have an impact of 19% and 15%, respectively. The impact of interaction between seeding rates and row spacing son the yield of dye safflower is 0.02%. As a result of the analysis of variance, it was determined that the significance of row spacing’s is 44.68% and varieties 48.72%, with an error of 0.049888889. The value of the factors incorporated in the study has a significant impact on the yield of dye varieties of safflower.