The impact of environmental factors, sowing time, and soil conditions on the growth, yield, and resilience of Fagopyrum tataricum and Fagopyrum esculentum in Egyptian agroecosystems

Abstract

Background Buckwheat (Fagopyrum spp.) is a gluten-free pseudocereal with high nutritional and bioactive value, offering the potential to diversify Egyptian cropping systems under semi-arid conditions. However, genotype × environment × management interactions remain poorly characterized for common (F. esculentum) and Tartary (F. tataricum) buckwheat in Egypt. Methods Field experiments were conducted over two growing seasons (2018/19–2019/20) at two contrasting northern Egyptian sites: the Belbies city site (clay–sandy, irrigated Nile Delta) and the Sadat city site (sandy–loamy, desert fringe). A three‐factor factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates per site was used to evaluate the species (Common vs. Tartary), location (Belbies vs. Sadat), and sowing date (mid-November, mid-January, and mid-March). Vegetative traits (height, branch number, internode number, leaf number, fresh biomass) and productivity parameters (seed count, seed weight, yield) were measured on ten plants and in three 1 m2 quadrats per plot. Two‐step ANOVA (species‐specific two‐way followed by combined three‐way) and LSD mean separation were applied (α = 0.05). Results Three‐way interactions among species, location, and sowing date were highly significant for all traits (p < 0.001), explaining 18–32% of the variance. Tartary buckwheat outperformed common buckwheat across both sites and seasons, exhibiting greater vegetative vigor and reproductive resilience. At Belbies, mid-March sowing of F. tataricum resulted in the highest grain yields (947 ± 22 kg ha- 1 in 2018/19; 997 ± 25 kg ha- 1 in 2019/20), whereas common buckwheat yields peaked at mid-November sowing (558 ± 19 and 491 ± 18 kg ha- 1, respectively). At Sadat, yields were lower for both species but remained consistently greater for F. tataricum on all sowing dates. Compared with F. tataricum, F. esculentum performed worse under later sowing and desert-fringe conditions. Conclusions Tartary buckwheat presented greater growth and yield than did common buckwheat across the two sites and sowing windows tested. Within Belbies (clay–sandy), mid-March sowing resulted in the highest F. tataricum yields; at Sadat (sandy–loamy), yields were lower across dates. These results indicate that F. tataricum is a promising candidate for Egyptian agroecosystems, with location- and date-specific performance.