Two promising selected land races of safflower (Carthamns tinctorious L.) designated as line 11 and line 13, together with the local variety Giza 1, were examined under three levels of moisture depletions, i.e. 40, 60 and 80 % ASMD at Fayoum, Middle Egypt during 1986/87 and 1987/88 seasons. In both growing seasons, the second irrigation treatment i.e. 60 % ASMD gave the highest means for growth characters as well as seed yield and most of its components. Seed oil content per cent exhibited an increased as soil moisture depletion increased with no significant difference between entries. Safflower entries showed clear differences in some yield components which compensate each other and resulted in no significant difference in seed yield per hectar. Consumptive use of water by safflower plants increased as the available soil moisture around the root zone increased. No significant differences were found in water consumed by safflower entries used in all experiments. In the two experimental seasons, the best water use efficiency (WUE) for seed production was obtained also from the second treatment (60 % ASMD). The line 11 gave the best WUE.

The present investigation was undertaken on four W. German (AD201, Belinda, Korina and Elvira) and five French (Cresor, Brutor, BRO, BRIO and Orpal) spring rapeseed varieties, for evaluation and to study their performance and productivity under Fayoum (Egypt) conditions during two successive winter seasons (1982/1983 and 1983/1984). In order to make clear identification for different plant characters, some genetical parameters were estimated. In the first season, the nine varieties were arranged into a randomized complete block field experiment with four replications. In the second one, the experiment (with the same design and replication) included only six cultivars, after elimination of three winter‐type (Belinda, Korina and Elvira) that failed to reach flowering because of unique cold temperature requirements. Therefore, the present study was restricted with the remainder six varieties. The varieties exhibited considerable differences in all the characters studied. AD201 was earlier, higher seed‐ and oil‐yielding variety than other tested ones. Its superiority could be attributed to increased number of pods/plant, seeds/pod and seed yield/plant. The second yielding variety was BR1O followed by Cresor, BRO and Brutor. While Orpal was inferior in all characters except for seed index. Data showed that fruiting zone length reached nearly half the mature height for each genotype. Remarkable amount of genotypic variation and high heritability estimates were recorded for all studied characters. Quantitative analysis indicated that number of seeds/pod, early flowering, seed weight/plant, possessed high heritability values combined with high genetic gains and wide genetic variations. By these characters, discernible improvement could be easily achieved through phenotypic selection in relatively very short time.