Seed yield and oil and protein contents in seeds of safflower as influenced by vermicompost and nitrogen fertilizer under drought stress condition

Safflower is traditionally grown all over the world for its seeds and the dyeing properties of the flowers, so it is commonly used in food industry for colouring and flavouring foods, in pigment industry and in the oil production industry. In order to investigate the effects of vermicompost and N fertilizer on quality traits such as seed yield, seed oil and protein content of safflower, a field experiment was carried out in 2011 at Khorramabad-Lorestan, Iran. The experiment was laid out in factorial randomized complete block design as split plot-factorial with three replications. Treatments included three agents : Vermicompost rate in four levels [V-1=0 (control), V-2=2, V-3=4 and V-4=6 t/ha) and N rate was in four levels [N-1= 0 (control), N-2= 84 (30% less from N-3), N-3= 120 (from the soil analyze lab) and N-4=154 (30% more than N-3) kg N/ha] in the form of urea and irrigation as the main factor in two levels, S-1=Regular irrigation and S-2=Non-irrigation (stress from bloom growth stages). The results revealed that the vermicompost and nitrogen application and water stress had a significant effect on seed yield, and seed protein content at (P<0.01) and seed oil content at P<0.05 significant. And the interactions of water stress and vermicompost (S x V) and water stress and nitrogen (S x N) had a significant effect on seed oil and seed protein content at P<0.05. And the interactions of vermicompost and nitrogen (V x N) didn't affect any of these traits.