The effects of silicon and titanium on safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) growth under moisture deficit condition

Safflower is one of important crop in semi-arid regions of the world, where the precipitations are limited. In order to investigate the effect of foliar spray of nano-silicon dioxide (10 and 20 mM) and nano titanium dioxide (25 and 50 mM) and water-deficit stress (irrigation after 110 mm evaporation) on growth parameters and yield components of spring safflower a field experiment was carried out at the highland semi-arid region, in, North West of Iran. Water deficit stress significantly reduced morpho-physiological traits such as ground cover, canopy width, leaf fresh mass, leaf are and plant height) as well as yield components (e.g. capitulum diameter, seed mass and seed number per capitulum). However, the plants grown under water deficit condition showed the higher harvest index than well irrigated plants. Comparison of the foliar treatments showed that the both nano-particles (silicon and titanium) improved the plant growth and yield components over the control. However, the effect of nano-silicon was more prominent than titanium. The highest amount of seed oil was recorded under well irrigated condition (irrigation after 60 mm evaporation) with foliar application of nano-titanium. The percentage of palmitic acid, arachidic acid and myristic acid in seed increased by nano-titanium application. Altogether, principal component analysis indicated that spray of 10 mM nano silicon dioxide was best foliar treatments under all moisture regimes.