THE EFFECT OF PLANTING DATE, PLANT DENSITY AND DIFFERENT LEVEL OF N FERTILIZER ON THE YIELD AND COMPONENT OF SPRING SAFFLOWER

The present study was performed to find the effect of planting date, plant density and different level of N fertilizer on yield and yield components of spring safflower on Isfahan variety. It was done in the research field of Arak Islamic Azad University in 2008-2009. The experiment was performed in factorial split plot based on RCBD with 4 replications and 48 plot. Treatment were selected as two planting dates (10^th of May and 10^th of July) and different level of N (46, 92 and 138 kg/ha) and two plant densities (400000 and 800000 plant/ha) hence 800000 plant per hectare executed in double row planting. The result showed that the highest yield was related to 10^th of May planting date with 92 kg/ha N fertilizer and plant density of 800000 per hectare by 3052 kg/ha. The lowest yield was related to 10^th of July planting date with 92 kg/ha N fertilizer and 400000 plant density per hectare. The delayed planting has very much influence in decreasing yield of safflower. So, planting in 10^th of May has direct effect on safflower yield rather than planting in 10 July.