Yield and some morphological traits of the medicinal herb desert indianwheat (Plantago ovata Forssk.) in Jiroft, Iran as affected by water deficit stress and manure

In order to study the effect of water deficit stress and manure application on seed yield and morphological traits of desert indianwheat (Plantago ovata Forssk.), a split-plot experiment was conducted in greenhouse of Islamic Azad University, Jiroft Branch, Iran in spring 2009 based on a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The treatment of water deficit was the main plot at three levels of irrigation when soil moisture reached 75, 50 and 25% of field capacity (mild, moderate and severe stress, respectively). Also, manure application formed the sub-plot at five levels of 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 t/ha. The results showed that water deficit significantly affected seed yield and other related traits including plant height, spike length, spike number per plant, root dry weight and hay yield except 1000-seed weight. The treatment of manure did not significantly affect plant height and 1000-seed weight. The treatment of mild water deficit stress with the application of 20 t manure/ha produced the highest seed yield (232.3 kg/ha) which showed no significant difference with the treatment of moderate water deficit stress at the same manure level. Thus, the application of 20 t manure/ha is recommended in the cultivation of desert indianwheat in climatic conditions of Jiroft, Iran, when there is a relative water deficiency.