Investigation of Methanol Application as A Drought Resistance Solution for Safflower (Carthamus Tinctorius L.) Cultivation in Desert Regions of Iranshahr

TWater deficit is considered as one of the limited factors in agriculture in the arid and desert regions of the country. The cultivation of drought tolerant plants such as safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) and using methanol to increase the drought resistance of these plants is an appropriate solution for agricultural development in these regions. For this purpose, an experiment was carried out in the design of split plots in a randomized complete block with three replications in the growing season of 2019-2020 in Iranshahr. Experimental treatments were consisted of three drought stress levels including no stress, moderate stress and severe stress, as the main plots, and the four methanol levels including no use, using 10, 20 and 30% volume of methanol as sub plots. The results showed that the highest values of the studied traits were obtained from no stress treatment and foliar application of 30% volume of methanol. However, for the 1000 grain weight, grain and oil yield, there were no statistically significant differences between 30 and 20% by volume of methanol.  For all the studied traits, there was no statistically significant difference between the absence of stress treatment and the absence of methanol use, with moderate stress treatment and foliar application of 30% methanol volume. The lowest values of the traits studied were achieved by severe stress treatment without foliar application.