Yield and Quality Traits of Some Flax Cultivars as Influenced by Different Irrigation Intervals

Flax is a potential winter crop for Egypt that can be grown for both seed and fiber. The study was conducted during two successive winter seasons of 2013/14 and 2014/15 in the experimental farm of El-Gemmeiza Agricultural Research Station, Agriculture Research Centre, Egypt. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of irrigation intervals (25, 35 and 45) on the straw, seed, oil, fiber yields and quality of flax cultivars (Sakha1, Giza9 and Giza10). Irrigation intervals significantly influenced all studied traits except oil percentage. Irrigated flax plants every 35 days gave the maximum values for all traits, while irrigation every 45 days gave the minimum values. In respect to cultivars, significant differences were found in most yield and quality characters. Furthermore, the performance of Sakha 1 cultivar was superior in main stem diameter, biological, straw yields per faddan, seed index, seed, oil yields per faddan and oil percentage. Meanwhile, Giza 10 cultivar highly significantly out yielded Giza9 and Sakha1 in plant height, fiber fineness, fiber length, total fiber percentage and fiber yield per faddan. The interactions between irrigation intervals and flax cultivars were highly significant for all traits. Based on the results, Sakha1 cultivar recorded the maximum values for main stem diameter, biological, straw yields per faddan, seed, oil yields per faddan and oil percentage and Giza 10 recorded the maximum values for plant height, fiber fineness, fiber length, total fiber percentage and fiber yield per faddan under irrigation of plants every 35 days.