Effect of direct cultivation and transplantation on growth and seed yield of spring canola in different plant densities under delayed conditions in Moghan region

A proper planting date in canola allows the crop to grow sufficiently and minimizes the damaging effects of stress. On the other hand, early autumn rains and the problem of timely farm preparation and unavailability of farm fields due to summer crops such as peanuts in the Moghan region cause delays in planting dates for autumn crops such as canola. Problems such as supplying primary soil water for crop establishment of canola fields, pest damage such as flea beetles in delayed cultivation, the possibility of damage from cold and frost stress, as well as the decline in yield due to canola exposure to drought and heat stress due to delayed planting are the main problems of canola cultivation in the Moghan region. Because of this, canola transplanting can solve the problems and be a good choice in these kinds of situations.

In order to agronomic evaluation of direct cultivation and transplantation of spring canola in different plant densities under delayed conditions in the Moghan region, an experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with three replications in two cropping years, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. Experimental treatments included direct sowing of seeds as a control at a rate of 6 kg/ha; transplanting with densities of 20, 30, and 40 plants per square meter, each density with both bare-root transplant and potted-root transplant; and also with one seedling or two seedlings in the planting hole. During the experiment, traits including flowering initiation, flowering completion, flowering period, growth period, plant height, first pod height, stem diameter, branch number, pod length, pod thickness, pod number, seed number per pod, 1000-seed weight, and seed yield were recorded. Correlations among traits and path analysis were performed to investigate seed yield's direct and indirect effects.

The results showed that transplanting on average caused a significant decrease in phenological traits such as flowering initiation (145.5 GDD), flowering completion (207.8 GDD), growth period (158.9 GDD), and increased flowering period (156.6 GDD) during the experimental years. Also, transplanting caused a significant increase in stem diameter (2.8 mm), branch number (2.3), pod diameter (0.6 mm), number of pods per plant (158.2), number of seeds per pod (3.3), 1000-seed weight (0.69 g) and seed yield (1894.4 kg/ha). In control treatment as delayed direct sowing, seed yield in total experimental years showed a yield decline of 62.2% (1150.7 kg/ha) compared to transplanting cultivation treatments (3045.1 kg/ha). Comparing the bare-root transplant treatments, it was found that 40 plants per square meter had a higher number of pods per plant, 1000-seed weight, and seed yield than the 30 and 20 treatments and had a significant difference with them. Phenotypic correlation among agronomic traits showed seed yield had a negative and significant correlation with phenological traits: flowering initiation (-0.90**), flowering completion (-0.90**), and growth period (-0.77**) with a positive and non-significant effect on the flowering period (0.52). The results of stepwise regression analysis showed that the number of pods per plant (0.241*) and pod thickness (0.229*) had the most significant direct and positive effects on seed yield, respectively, while flowering completion (-0.559**) had the most negative and significant direct effect on seed yield.

Under delayed conditions, bare-root transplanting of canola with 40 plants per square meter density and one seedling in the planting hole was superior in terms of seed yield and phenological traits compared to potted-root transplanting and direct cultivation and is recommended in Moghan region.