To assess the response of promising safflower genotypes to late-season drought stress in delayed planting conditions, an experiment was conducted in two years (2016–2017 and 2017–2018) in Iran. The irrigation regime was specified in two levels, including normal irrigation and irrigation cut off in the seed filling stage in main plots, and five safflower genotypes, including Soffe, Goldasht, Golmehr, Padideh, and Parnian were categorized in subplots. Applied drought stress significantly reduced the seed yield and yield components of all genotypes, which accompanied with a substantial decrease in oil content and oil yield of all genotypes. However, the highest seed and oil yield in drought stress conditions obtained in the Parnian genotype by value 2338 and 561 kg/ha, respectively. Moreover, a significant drought-induced increase in palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids, as well as a decrease in linoleic acid content, was observed in all genotypes. Parnian genotype with high unsaturated fatty acids content (90.9%) and the minimum amount of saturated fatty acids (8.7%) might be a promising genotype to starting a formal crop improvement program to achieve more drought-tolerant safflower genotype.

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An experiment was performed in the Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran to study the influence of plant densities on physiological traits of six canola cultivars. Treatment conditions included three different plant densities (40, 60, and 80 plants m-2) for triplicates of six canola cultivars, namely, Ahamadi, Opera, Okapi, L72, Karaj1, and Sw102. Results indicated that L72 cultivar exhibited the highest yield at the lowest plant density (40 plants m-2). For all cultivars, both plant densities of 60 and 80 plants m-2 resulted in lower relative water content than 40 plants m-2. Proline and carbohydrate content significantly increased with increasing plant densities. The highest proline content was obtained from L72 under the highest plant density, whereas the lowest was also detected in this cultivar at the lowest plant density. All cultivars grown at the lowest density showed higher amounts of photosynthetic pigments chlorophylls a and b than those at the highest density. Glucosinolate increased with increasing plant densities, with L72 yielding the highest quantity when grown at the highest density. In conclusion, a density of 40 plants m-2 is recommended for growing L72 in this region.

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