The Preliminary Study of Camelina Compatibility as a New Oil Crop in the Temperate Region of Fars Province

In the last two decades, climate change led to a reduction in the quantity and quality of water resources in Iran. Several efforts have been done to deal with these problems such as the introduction of new plant resources that tolerate drought or salinity. Camelina sativa is a plant with low water and nutritional requirements, tolerates low temperatures and is resistant to the majority of pests and diseases. The objective of this study was to evaluate the plant compatibility and approximate determining its appropriate planting date in the temperate region of Fars province. Plant seeds of Soheil cultivar were sown on two planting dates; 16-December-2019 and 25-February-2020 at Zarghan Agricultural Research Station. The field on both planting dates was watered with effective rain that occurred immediately after planting. No pesticides or chemical fertilizers were used during the growing season. Plants were harvested on May 20 and June 15 on the first and second planting dates, respectively. The grain yield of the first date after threshing and cleaning the seeds was about one ton per hectare. Due to the high environmental temperature during the flowering stage, plants had fewer lateral shoots, fewer plant pods and a considerable percentage of pods were seedless, another had the smaller size of seeds on the second planting date, so grain yield was negligible. Results of the present study showed that camelina is a cold-resistant plant and can tolerate below zero degrees temperatures, even in the seedling stage. The December planting date is very suitable for camelina grain production. So it could be considered as a winter oil crop in the temperate region of Fars province with 300 mm rainfall with no need for irrigation events.