Managing irrigation and sowing date can improve oil content and fatty acid composition of Camelina sativa L

ABSTRACT A two-year experiment was arranged as a factorial in a randomized complete block design with three replicates to investigate the response of camelina oil yield and its oil composition to irrigation regimes at different sowing dates in Karaj, Iran. The experiment factors were irrigation regimes including (i) full irrigation (well-watered), (ii) restricted irrigation from silicle formation (late-stress), (iii) restricted irrigation from flowering (mild-stress) and (IV) restricted irrigation from maximum stem length (early-stress) and planting dates consisting of (i) 27-Sep, (ii) 12-Oct and (iii) 25-Oct. The highest oil content (30.04%) was obtained from the first sowing date and was 2% and 5.4% higher than 12-Oct and 25-Oct, respectively. Obtained grains from well-watered irrigation regime had significantly more oil content (31.02%) than the other irrigation regimes. Delaying in sowing date and water-deficit stress raised saturated fatty acids (palmitic, stearic and arachidic acids). While delayed sowing date (12 and 25-Oct) and water-deficit stress (low, mild and severe stresses) increased the content of palmitic, eicosenoic and erucic fatty acids, the oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids were reduced in such conditions. It seems that postponing the sowing date to 12-Oct and restricting irrigation from silicle formation would be reasonable as it can decline water consumption.