Seed yield, physiological and biochemical attributes in canola (Brassica napus L.) as influenced by tillage system and cropping season

Abstract

Canola is an important oilseed crop and its performance was influenced by tillage system. However, no study on this influence has been carried out in North Africa. Also, the effect of tillage system on physiological and biochemical traits in canola has never been investigated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of tillage system on agronomic, physiological, and biochemical traits in canola during two cropping seasons (2019/2020 (Y1) and 2020/2021 (Y2)) under Moroccan conditions. The experiment was conducted according to a complete random block design with three replications and the tillage systems studied were deep ploughing (DP), chisel ploughing (CP), minimum till (MT), and no-till (NT). Over both seasons, tillage significantly affected all traits except for proline content. Notably, NT consistently exhibited superior performance with the highest seed yield (272 kg ha−1 in Y1, 1760 kg ha−1 in Y2) and oil content (36 % in Y1, 44 % in Y2). In contrast, DP faced challenges during severe drought in Y1, resulting in no production. On the other hand, in Y2, DP showed the highest stomatal conductance and sugars content, while NT exhibited the highest chlorophyll content. Considering these findings, no-till can be recommended for canola cultivation in Morocco as well as in other North-African and Mediterranean countries with similar climate and soil conditions.