The Effects of Planting Date and Row Spacing on Yield, Yield Components and Associated Traits in Winter Safflower under Rain Fed Conditions

To investigate the effects of planting date and row spacing on yield, yield components and associated traits, an experiment was conducted as spilt plot using completed randomized block design with four replications in agriculture research center of changae sarab region in khorram abad, Iran, during 2009-2010. Four planting dates (22 November, 6 December, 21 December, 5 January) as main plot and four row spacing (15, 30, 45 and 60 cm) were selected as sub plot. The results showed that the different planting dates had significant effect on yield and yield components. The highest yield (1225 kg/ha), number of head per plant (12.7 head), number of grain per head (25.9 grain), 1000-grain weight (29.2 g) and biological yield (3585 kg/ha) were obtained at second planting date. Grain yield and its yield components influenced by row spacing were significant. Row spacing of 30 cm had the highest grain yield (1214 kg/ha), number of head per plant (12.18 head) number of grain per head (24.3grain) and biological yield (3562 kg/ha). The result of interaction between planting date and row spacing showed that the highest and the lowest grain yield were obtained in planting date of 6 December with row spacing of 30 cm (1414 kg/ha) and 5 January with row spacing of 60 cm (790 kg/ha), respectively. Therefore, planting date of 6 December with row spacing of 30 cm is recommended.