I nfluence of cover crops and mulch management on yield and yield components and in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

In order to evaluate the effect of cover crops and mulch management on yield and yield components of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), a study was conducted as split-plot based on a complete randomized block design with four replications during 2008-2009. The mulch managements as main factor were consisted of three levels including incorporation of cover crops with soil, harvesting + removing, and harvesting + surface mulch, and three cover crops were considered as subplots (triticale, common vetch, and intercropping triticale + common vetch). Also, a non cover crop was considered as control beside the experiment. The result showed that there was a significant difference between different mulch managements for heads per plant and seed yield. The highest head no. per plant was observed in surface mulch and harvesting treatments. Also, the highest safflower seed yield was observed in mixture of triticale + common vetch and triticale + surface mulch treatments. The plants in intercropped triticale + common vetch and triticale + surface mulch treatments produced 22.49 and 10.48 percent more seed yield than control, respectively.