Effects of different sowing times and production technics on the yield and quality of Salvia hispanica L. under Çukurova conditions

Salvia hispanica L., known as Chia, belonging to Lamiaceae family, is annual plant. Salvia hispanica L. seeds provided from Bolivia were used as plant material. Field trials were arranged in the complete factorial randomized block design with 3 replicates under Çukurova conditions. In the study, different sowing times (1, 15 30 April and 15 May) and (production such as seeds or seedlings) were investigated. As a result, plant height, main branch number, secondary branch numbers, plant weight, head numbers, number of nodes, head weight, seed weight, seed yield and protein ratio were higher in sowing time of 1 April and production from seedling. Some other plant characteristics such as spike length, thousand-seed weight and oil ratio were the highest in the sowing time of 15 May and production by seeds. According to the results of present study, which is the first research investigating the effects of sowing times and cultivation technics under Çukurova, we come to the conclusion that Chia could be cultivated under our conditions, but the obtained yield from the the cultivar used in the study was the lower than world averages, so it can be recommended the day-neutral cultivars must be used in the future studies. Key words: Chia, Sowing Time, Seed, Seedling