Yield and WUE of Cumin as Affected by Drought Stress, Bio-fertilizer and Manure

Abstract

To study the effects of drought stress, manure and bio-fertilizer on cumin an experiment was conducted as a split plot experiment based on a randomized complete block design with 3 replications in two successive growth seasons (2009-2010 and 2010-2011) in Birjand, Iran. Two irrigation treatments (rainfall + 3 irrigations as water stress and rainfall + 6 irrigations as control) were in the main plots and the following 7 fertilization methods (control- no fertilizer, 10 t/ha manure- 10M, 5t/ha manure- 5M, 50 kg/ha nitrogen as urea-50N, 5M + 25N and seed inoculation with Pseudomonas putida- B1 and P. fluorescence- B2) were tested in sub plots. Results demonstrated that biomass, seed yield and its components and WUE, all reduced in drought stress conditions. In water stress conditions, the highest seed and biomass yields were related to the 5M + 25N treatment. In this conditions non-fertilizer, B1 and B2 treatments had lower seed and biomass yields. The highest WUE under water stress condition was related to 5 M+ 25 N treatment. Results showed that application of manure could be used to modify the impact of water shortage and increase cumin yield and WUE through improving the soil's water-holding capacity. Nitrogen application with manure had an improvement in the effect of manure. Seed inoculation with Pseudomonas sp. did not have any positive effect on plant growth and yield.

Keywords:

• Bacteria
• biomass
• harvest index
• plant number
• seed number