Rapeseed is one of the most important oilseed crops in the world and, in Morocco, it may contribute to the improvement of food security in edible oils through developing performant cultivars and optimizing the crops management including nitrogen fertilization. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of different Moroccan varieties to nitrogen application. Field trials were carried out at the experimental station of National School of Agriculture in Meknes, during two cropping seasons (2017–2018 and 2018–2019). Five varieties (“Narjisse”, “Moufida”, “Alia”, “Adila”, and “Lila”) were combined to different nitrogen rates (0, 30, 60, and 90 kg N ha⁻¹). The experimental design adopted is a split split-plot with three replications, where nitrogen treatment was affected to main plot, variety to subplot, and year to sub-subplot. Results showed that dry matter, harvest index, oil content, seed yield per plant and yield components were significantly affected by nitrogen rates, with an upward trend in seed yield as the nitrogen rates increased. On average, seed yield increased by 50.33% for application of 90 kg N ha⁻¹ compared to the control (without N fertilization). However, oil content declined from 41.08% to 37.81% with the increase of nitrogen level from 0 to 90 kg N ha⁻¹. Additionally, for the other traits studied, the highest mean values were observed for 90 kg N ha⁻¹, except harvest index which exhibited the greatest value for 60 kg N ha⁻¹. Variation among the varieties was significantly large for all traits studied with a superiority of the variety “Alia” for seed yield per plant (9.82 g plant⁻¹), number of pods per plant (151), and number of seeds per pod (24.05).

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is one of the most important food legumes grown in Morocco under rainfed conditions. This crop requires phosphorus (P) fertilizers to produce higher yields. However, many farmers use low quantities of P because of its cost and the risk of drought. Consequently, the use of varieties with high P use efficiency (PUE) can improve productivity and farmers' income under erratic conditions where the application of high amounts of P is not economically justified. The genetic variation of PUE among Moroccan faba bean varieties was studied under different levels of available phosphorus to orientate the choice of adapted varieties. Two experiments were conducted, under rainfed conditions, at the experiment station of Douyet (Morroco) in 2000–2001 (year 1) and 2002–2003 (year 2). In both years, four P treatments 0, 40, 80 and 120 kg P₂O₅ ha⁻¹ as fertilizer and four faba bean varieties (G) were tested. In year 1, the varieties tested were Aguadulce, Defès, Karabiga and Lobab. The same varieties were used in year 2 with the exception of Aguadulce, which was replaced by a determinate genotype with smaller straw production. Results showed that the G effect on PUE was significant in year 1, but not in year 2. In the conditions of the moderate P availability (year 1), the variety Defes had the highest PUE and grain yield. Where P availability was lower (year 2), the highest PUE was reached by Karabiga; however, the difference with Defes was not significant. Data showed also that PUE was positively correlated with harvest index (HI) and phosphorus harvest index (PHI). In year 1, genotypic variation for PUE was mainly explained by phosphorus utilization efficiency; but not by phosphorus uptake efficiency. From this study, we can conclude that for rainfed conditions, the breeding strategy is to develop genotypes like Defes with high HI and improved PUE.