MAXIMIZING PRODUCTION AND IRRIGATION WATER PRODUCTIVITY OF CANOLA CROP (BRASSICA NAPUS L.) UNDER ARID LAND CONDITIONS

A field experiment was carried out at the Agricultural Experimental Research Station of King Abdulaziz University to study the effect of irrigation level, row spacing and inter-row spacing on productivity and irrigation water productivity (IWP) of Canola. Two irrigation levels, I-Full ( 100% of field capacity) and I-min ( 65% of I-Full), were investigated. Three row spacing, S1, S2 and S3, represented by 20, 40 and 60 cm between rows were studied under each irrigation level. Three inter-row spacing, IRS1, IRS2 and IRS3, represented by 5, 10 and 20 cm between plants, were investigated for each row spacing. Results indicated that I-min reduced seed yield per plant, total seed yield and oil percentage but increased IWP. Decreasing row and inter-row spacing decreased seed yield per plant but increased total seed yield and IWP. The highest oil percentage ( 36.1%) was obtained from S2 during both growing seasons. The triple interaction optimized total seed yield, IWP and oil production. The best combination was I-Full-S1-IRS2 with average production of 8430 kg ha(-1) seed yield which is expected to produce 2990 kg of oil, followed by I-min-S1-IRS1 which produced 6750 kg ha(-1)seed yield with about 2270 kg ha(-1) of oil. Application of this combination saves 35% of water but reduces oil production by 24%. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.