Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz: a relevant oilseed crop for integrated weed management in semiarid and semihumid Mediterranean cropping systems

The simplification of cropping systems, focused on a few staple high-yield crops, reduces the resilience of agroecosystems. To strengthen them, sustainable practices, such as the diversification of crop rotation, are promoted to enhance the productivity, decrease the use of pesticides, and protect the biodiversity. In this context, camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) has shown a significant adaptability to a wide range of management systems, while presenting a growing market. Moreover, it is characterized as drought tolerant crop, which is mandatory in Mediterranean regions. The main goal of the thesis is to assess the viability of camelina in Ebro Basin cropping systems, and evaluate its weed-suppressive capacity through both the diversification of management practices and its phenological characteristics.
In assessing the feasibility of camelina, the adaptability and productivity were studied across different cropping systems and climate regions with contrasting pluviometric regimes in the four thesis chapters. Throughout the trials, the ability of camelina to adapt to different management systems was observed. Optimal temperature and hydric requirements for profitable productivity were established, and suitable management practices (sowing date) and varieties were determined based on region and end-product goals. Furthermore, the effect of the temperature on the final growth stages of camelina was parameterized with seed weight to explain, in part, the variability on yield production.
The second part of the thesis, divided into two chapters, evaluated the weed-suppressive capacity of camelina and its effectiveness on weed control. On one side, the short growth cycle of camelina allows harvesting before the weeds completed their cycle, reducing the seed rain of Papaver rhoeas (L.) in fall sowings, and completely avoiding it in Chenopodium album L., Polygonum aviculare L., and in Xanthium spinosum L. with spring sowings. On the other side, delaying the sowing date of camelina (from November to January) enables up to 90 % of control in the emergence of winter and summer weeds.
In conclusion, camelina shows to be an economically feasible crop for both rainfed and irrigated cropping systems in the Ebro Basin, offering added value to weed control strategies.