Impacts of water availability and plant density on morpho-physiological characteristics of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum)

Inglés. Saabunud / Received 01.05.2022 ; Aktsepteeritud / Accepted 17.07.2022 ; Avaldatud veebis / Published online 17.07.2022 ; Vastutav autor / Corresponding author: Mojtaba Hassanzadehdelouei ; [email protected]

Inglés. Plant density and water availability are the most importantfactors determining the yield of crops and medicinal plants. To investigatethe effect of these two factors and their interaction on the yield andmorpho-physiological characteristics of fenugreek, an experiment wasconducted in the form of split plots based on a randomized complete blockdesign (RCBD) with three replications in 2020. Water availability(favourable conditions, mild stress and severe stress) were placed in mainplots and plant densities (22, 44 and 66 plants m2 –1) were placed in subplots. The results showed a three-fold increase in plant density under optimal moisture conditions increased grain yield from 998 to 1 380 kg ha–1and biological yield from 2 600 to 3 259 kg ha–1, respectively, while inmild and severe water stress, did not affect grain yield and biological yield.In all three moisture conditions, a 3-fold increase in plant density reducedthe number of seeds per pod and a 2-fold increase in plant density reducedthe number of pods per plant. Although in some crops, the increase indensity under water stress conditions can compensate for the decrease inyield, in fenugreek, the increase in density under water stress conditionswas not beneficial for the plant. Increasing the density to medium(44 plants m2 –1) reduces the source strength and applying high densitythrough sink restriction causes a decrease in yield. On the other hand,moisture limitation by reducing the number of pods per plant, the numberof seeds per pod and the number of seeds per plant reduced the size of thesink and the mass of 1 000 seeds, which indicates the strength of thesource, was not affected.