## 2 Materials and Methods  
### Site Description and Experimental Design  
A two-year field experiment was conducted in the Tripoli region (37\({}^{\circ}\)30\({}^{\prime}\) N and 22\({}^{\circ}\)22\({}^{\prime}\) E; 660 m altitude), central Peloponnese, southern Greece, during the 2015 and 2016 spring-summer cropping seasons (Figure 1). The primary soil physicochemical parameters (at 0-25 cm soil depth) of the experimental site are the following: the soil was characterized as a clay loam (28.6% clay, 37.8% silt, and 33.6% sand) with a pH (1:2 H\({}_{2}\)O) of 6.62, 0.104% total nitrogen (N), 1.52 % total organic carbon, a sufficient supply of phosphorus (Olsen P: 10.7 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) soil), potassium (K) of 100.5 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) soil, magnesium (Mg) of 182 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) soil, and electrical conductivity of 58.2 \(\upmu\)S cm\({}^{-1}\). The site was certified as organic and managed in accordance with European Union organic agriculture regulations (EC 834/2007) [26]. The meteorological data (mean monthly air temperature and precipitation) for the experimental site over the experimental periods were gathered from an automatic weather station of the Institute for Environmental Research, National Observatory of Athens (IERSD/NOA) [33] situated 4 km from the site; the data are presented in Table 1. Total precipitation in 2015 and 2016 (from April to July) was 142.2 and 216.6 mm, respectively. The mean temperature during the experimental periods was 17.0 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 2015 and 18.2 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 2016. The experiment was set up on an area of 546 m\({}^{2}\) according to the split-plot design with three replications, two main plots (conventional till \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Mean Temperature (\({}^{\circ}\)C)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Precipitation (mm)**} \\ \cline{2-5}  & **2015** & **2016** & **2015** & **2016** \\ \hline April & 10.4 & 13.6 & 6.6 & 3.4 \\ \hline May & 16.0 & 14.9 & 49.6 & 33.0 \\ \hline June & 18.3 & 21.7 & 78.0 & 135.0 \\ \hline July & 21.7 & 22.6 & 8.0 & 45.2 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Weather data for experimental location during the growing periods (April–July 2015 and 2016). Figure 1: Overview of amelina experimental field during the second (2016) experimental year. three sub-plots [organic fertilization type: untreated (control), vermicompost, and compost] (Figure 2). Specifically, the application of conventional tillage was achieved by moldboard ploughing at a depth of 25 cm with a BKD plough (BKD 20003; Kariotakis, Doxato, Drama, Greece) equipped with three M12 type moldboards, followed by one rotary hoeing at a depth of about 10-15 cm with a Maschio Gaspardo rotary tiller (Weekend Warrior SD; Maschio Gaspardo S.p.A, Padova, Italy) equipped with 28 blades; the plots of minimum tillage treatment included chiseling at 25 cm depth with an Alpler chisel plough (Alpler Agricultural Machinery, Aydin, Turkey) equipped with seven shanks, followed by rotary hoeing at 10-15 cm. The total applied organic fertilizer (vermicompost and compost) dose was 2000 kg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\), and this amount is the general recommended dose of the respective fertilizer type for camelina cultivation in clay-loam soils [34]. In the present study, the two organic fertilizers differed in their composting process [organic waste (wheat straw, maize straw, and farmyard manure at a ratio of 6:3:1) converted into compost under aerobic conditions (a) by microorganisms (thermophilic bacteria): composting and (b) through the interaction of earthworms (_Eisenia fotida_ and _Lumbricus rubellis_) and microorganisms (mesophilic bacteria) at room temperature (25 \({}^{\circ}\)C): vermicomposting and composition (Table 2). The main plot and sub-plot sizes were 76 m\({}^{2}\) (19 m \(\times\) 4 m) and 24 m\({}^{2}\) (6 m \(\times\) 4 m), respectively (Figure 2). In each experimental year, soil tillage took place three days prior to sowing.