Abstract
Limitation of water resources and its great impact on agricultural and natural resources play a crucial role in the efficiency of water use. Applying super absorbent polymer to the soil may be one of the methods to minimize the stress of weather dryness in arid and semi-arid regions. In order to evaluate the effects of hydrophilic polymer application on yield and water use efficiency of rapeseed plants, an experiment was conducted under field condition in 2012 at the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh. Treatments’ factors were: (i) 3 super absorbent polymers (SAP) (Taravat A200) levels of 0 (without application), 75 and 150 kg ha-1 A200 application, (ii) three irrigation levels of 80, 120 and 180 mm evaporation from class A basin in main plots, (iii) two cultivars ʻHyola 401ʼ and ʻRVSʼ in sub plots as factorial split plot combination based on completely randomized block design with three replications. The results showed that in all of the measured traits within the experiment there were significant differences between SAP levels. Furthermore, increasing irrigation interval led to an increase in a thousand seeds’ weight, but decreased seed yield. Increasing water stress raised seed oil percent and infertile silique and subsequently resulted in reduced oil yield. ʻHyola 401ʼ was more susceptible to embryo abortion compared with ʻRVSʼ. As a conclusion of the research, SAP (A200) application in quantities smaller than 75 kg ha-1 may be recommended for rapeseed production under field condition.
Highlights
Synthetic polymers in the form of crystals or tiny beads are available under several trade names as super absorbent polymers, root watering crystals and drought crystals; they are collectively known as hydrogels
Two rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) cultivars namelyHyola 401ʼ andRVS were employed for evaluation of combinations of 0, 75, 150 kg ha-1 soil based with Taravat A200 (1-2 mm granular size) and application of three irrigation levels: 80, 120 and 160 mm evaporation from class A pan, as factorial split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications
The results showed that super absorbent application had significant effects on yield and yield components of rapeseed (Table 2)
Summary
Synthetic polymers in the form of crystals or tiny beads are available under several trade names as super absorbent polymers, root watering crystals and drought crystals; they are collectively known as hydrogels. The highest increase in seed yield, total dry matter (TDM), leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR) and harvest index (HI) were achieved by Yazdani et al (2007) with a dose of 225 kg ha-1 polymer compared with the control (without polymer). These results indicated that the application of super absorbent polymer increased all the above growth and yield attributes (Yazdani et al, 2007). When ANOVA showed significant treatment effects, the Duncan’s multiple range test was applied to compare the means, at p < 0.05
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