In order to study the effect of salinity and water stress on biomass production, growth parameters, seed yield, and seed oil of kochia, kochia was grown in the spring and summer of 2009 with four levels of water supply and seven levels of saline water with three replications. During nonstress conditions kochia produced remarkable dry matter (37 t ha-1) and still produced up to 8 t ha-1 during severe drought and saline conditions. The effect of maximum crop growth rate was higher than maximum crop growth duration on biomass production. Green biomass of kochia increased compared to shoot biomass; and then, more assimilate partitioning to the leaves under salinity and drought stress helped kochia to keep its photosynthesis organs and otherwise improve the forage quality. Kochia produced 2.5 and 1.5 t ha-1 seed under nonsaline and saline conditions, respectively. Kochia seed contains reasonable oil content, particularly during extreme stress conditions. Kochia could produce 120 kg ha-1 oil during the excessive stress condition of this experiment. Kochia’s seeds contain 84% unsaturated fatty acid. This result indicates that kochia is a potential forage and oil crop under saline and dry conditions in semi-arid areas.

Keywords