Impact of sulphur fertilization on yield and its components of three flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) genotypes

The objective of this experiment was to investigate yield, yield components and quality of three flax genotypes (Sakha 3, Sakha 5 and Giza 11) under different sulphur fertilization levels (0, 25.0, 37.5, 50.0 and 62.5 kg/ha). Split-plot design was used for the experiment with four replicates. The main-plots were assigned to the five fertilization levels of sulphur and the sub-plots were allocated to the three flax genotypes. Application of 50.0 kg sulphur/ha significantly increased most of the studied characters i.e. technical length, straw yield/plant, straw yield/ha, fruiting zone length, number of capsules/plant, seed yield/ha, fiber length and fiber yield/ha in both seasons. Results also showed that Giza11 significantly surpassed other genotypes in technical length, stem diameter, straw yield/plant and per hectare, seed index and fiber length, whilst Sakha 3 was superior in fiber percentage and fiber yield/ha in the first and second seasons, respectively. Sakha 5 genotype recorded the best results for fruiting zone length, number of capsules/plant and seed yield/ha in both seasons. Therefore, this study recommends using fertilization level of 50.0 kg sulphur/ha with Giza11 for the best straw yield/ha, Sakha 3 for the best fiber yield/ha and Sakha 5 for the best seed yield/ha. Keywords: Flax genotypes, sulphur fertilization, straw yield, seed yield, fiber yiel

GIZA 11 AND GIZA 12; TWO NEW FLAX DUAL PURPOSE TYPE VARIETIES

Sixteen flax genotypes {13 promising lines and 3 check varieties viz., Giza 8 (oil type), Sakha 1 (dual purpose type) and Sakha 3 (fiber type)} were evaluated for straw, seed, oil yields and their related traits under twelve different environments; four locations (Sakha, Etay El-Baroud, Ismailia and Giza Exp. Stations through three successive seasons (2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14). These materials were evaluated in a randomized complete blocks design with three replications at the twelve above-mentioned environments. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among genotypes (G), environments (E) and G x E interaction for all studied traits except straw weight per plant, indicating a wide range of variation among genotypes, environments and these genotypes exhibited differential response to environmental conditions. The significant variance due to residual for all characters except both straw weight per plant and oil yield per fad indicated that genotypes differed with respect to their stability suggesting that prediction would be difficult, which means that mean performance alone would not be appropriate. Interaction component of variance (σ2ge) was less than the genotypic variance (σ2g) for all characters, indicating that genotypes differ in their genetic potential for these traits. This was reflected in high heritability and low discrepancy between phenotypic (PCV) and genotypic (GCV) coefficients of variability values for these traits indicating the possibility of using each of long fiber percentage, plant height and technical stem length as selection indices for improving straw weight per plant, as well as, using 1000-seed weight and capsules number per plant as selection indices for improving seed weight per plant. Yield stability (YSi) statistic indicated that S.541-C/3 and S.541-D/10 gave high mean performance and stability for straw, fiber, seed and oil yields per fad in addition to oil percentage, capsules number per plant and 1000-seed weight. Therefore, the two genotypes well be released under the name Giza 11 and Giza 12, respectively. These newly released varieties are of dual purpose type for straw, fiber, seed and oil yield. They may replace the low yielding cultivars Giza 8, Sakha 1 and Sakha 3