Cropping camelina with flood irrigation under contrasting fertilization sources

Under Mediterranean conditions, droughts are important threats for farmers. Camelina ( Camelina sativa Crantz), an interesting oilseed crop for its oil characteristics, is generally considered as a drought tolerant crop, but it is also affected by hydric stress periods. The Central Ebro Basin, in North-eastern Spain, characterized by semi-arid and sub-humid climates, is also an area with important pig and cow farm concentration. Managing residues is imperative to avoid underground water pollution. In this area, the average yields of camelina are 1500 kg ha -1 but are limited by irregular precipitations. Because the increasing frequency of drought periods, an experiment under rainfed subhumid climate and flood irrigation systems in a semiarid area, with three camelina varieties ( Calena , CO46 and GP204 ), and four fertilization sources was established in Lleida area for two seasons. At the beginning of the flowering stage, flood irrigation of 100 mm was applied in the irrigated fields. Yields varied from 1000 kg ha -1 to 2500 kg ha -1 in the rainfed fields but increased to 2100 kg ha -1 to 3000 kg ha -1 in the irrigated fields. Calena resulted the most productive variety, although without significant differences. The role of the fertilization source is not clear and seem to rely on edaphoclimatic field characteristics. These results suggest that growing camelina in irrigated fields contribute to a better and economically stable production, with less water demand than winter cereals. This is crucial in the climate change scenario where shortage of irrigation water is becoming general. • The yield of camelina can be optimized with less water than winter cereals. • Calena produced higher yields, although without significant differences. • Camelina fertilized with pig slurry generally produced more but needs more research. • Camelina contributes to the stabilization of the production and water saving.