Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences International Journal of Plant Production 1735-6814 11 1 2017 01 01 Safflower model for simulation of growth and yield under various irrigation strategies, planting methods and nitrogen fertilization 167 192 3316 10.22069/ijpp.2017.3316 EN M.H. Shahrokhnia Irrigation Department, Shiraz University, Iran. A.R. Sepaskhah Irrigation Department, Shiraz University, Shiraz, I.R. of Iran Journal Article 2017 01 17 <span class="fontstyle0">Development and use of crop growth models is an effective tool for agricultural planning<br />and decision making in agricultural industry. Besides, the drought and limited supplies of water<br />in many areas of the world has increased attention to favourable strategies in farm management<br />such as efficient irrigation and planting methods. The objective of this study was to develop a<br />crop model for safflower known as a multi-purpose crop under various irrigation regimes,<br />planting methods and nitrogen fertilization. The experiment was designed as split-split plot that<br />arranged in randomized complete blocks with irrigation strategy as the main plot, planting<br />method as the subplot and nitrogen levels as the sub-subplot in three replications. The irrigation<br />strategies consisted of ordinary furrow irrigation (OFI) and variable alternate furrow irrigation<br />(VAFI) as a partial root drying (PRD) technique. The planting methods were on-ridge planting<br />(P</span><span class="fontstyle0">1</span><span class="fontstyle0">) and in-furrow planting (P</span><span class="fontstyle0">2</span><span class="fontstyle0">) methods. The fertilizer levels were 0 (N</span><span class="fontstyle0">0</span><span class="fontstyle0">), 100 (N</span><span class="fontstyle0">1</span><span class="fontstyle0">) and<br />200 (N</span><span class="fontstyle0">2</span><span class="fontstyle0">) kg ha</span><span class="fontstyle0">-1 </span><span class="fontstyle0">of urea as 0, 46 and 92 kg N ha</span><span class="fontstyle0">-1</span><span class="fontstyle0">. Two years of the experiment carried out in a<br />semi-arid area from 2012 to 2014. The field data of the second year of experiment were used to<br />develop the model and it was validated by the data of first year. The results indicated that the<br />proposed safflower model is able to estimate evapotranspiration, soil water content, leaf area<br />index, soil surface evaporation, crop transpiration, biomass, straw and seed yield of safflower in<br />an appropriate manner. The safflower model is useful for having better field management and<br />reducing administrative costs with respect to the model simplicity and its briefness in data input.<br /></span> https://ijpp.gau.ac.ir/article_3316_40d3bda947310b9e5439b20247b26ebe.pdf