Impact of Varying Planting Patterns and Fertilizer Application Strategies on Autumn Planted Sunflower Hybrid

Abstract

Achene yield, oil contents and protein contents are vital yield attributes of sunflower crop. To acquaint the impact of NP rates and planting patterns on the production potential of autumn sunflower hybrid Hysun-33 and fertilizer use efficiency a field experiment was executed in 2005. Treatments comprised of four NP combinations viz. 0-0, 50-35, 100-70 and 150-105 NP kg ha-1 and two planting patterns viz. bed sowing with 75 cm wide beds separated by 20 cm furrows and bed sowing with 60 cm wide beds separated by 25 cm furrows. Treatment 150-105 NP kg ha-1 with 75 cm wide beds separated by 20 cm furrows was found to be supercilious as it exhibited significant lofty achene yield (3360.00 kg ha-1), number of achene head-1 (1267.02), 1000-achene weight (68.65 g), biological yield (11166.6 kg ha-1) and harvest index (30.09%). Contrastingly, treatment 0-0 N-P kg ha-1 with 60 cm wide bed separated by 25 cm plant spacing bestowed the minimum grain yield. Frail increase in oil contents with gradual increase in fertilizer levels but it did not procure at a level of significance. Superior protein contents (27.71%) were revealed in treatment 150-105 N-P kg ha-1 with 75 cm wide bed separated by 20 cm plant spacing.

Response of Sunflower to Different N/P Fertilizer Ratios and Levels of Nitrogen and Phosphorus

“…These results are in conformity with the findings of Yasin et al, (2013) and Yadav et al, (2009), where they observed that in treatments receiving N/P fertilizer ratio of > 1.00 produced larger head size, higher seed yield/ plant, 1000 seed weight, higher total number of seeds/head.…”

Seed Yield and Quality of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) as Influenced by Staggered Sowing and Organic Fertilizer Application in the Humid Tropics

“…Sowing date did not affect oil and protein content of early and late sown sunflower, except protein content of early sown sunflower. Sunflower sown on 3 July, 2012 contained the highest protein (22.9%) and it compared favourably with values (17.25-18.89%) reported for hybrids in Pakistan and on par with values (21.91-27.51%) in Moldova (Yasin et al, 2013). Application of organic fertilizer significantly (P 0.05) increased oil and protein contents in both early and late sown sunflower, except protein content of late sown sunflower.…”

“…Only organic fertilizer application significantly (P 0.05) affected both early and late sown sunflower seed yield. The response to applied fertilizer could be attributed to availability of nutrients in the soil during the physiological growth and development stages of the plants as recently reported by Yasin et al (2013). The seed yield range (852.45-1,525.78 kg/ha) recorded in our study was on par with the Nigerian (1,000 kg/ha), African (812 kg/ha) averages (Olowe et al, 2013) and world average (1,520 kg/ha) according to USAD (2012).…”

“…Nasim et al (2012a) also reported optimum oil content when nitrogen was applied at 60 kg/ha and a decline as N increased to 240 kgN/ha. A significant (P 0.05) high protein content of 29.71%) was reported when N was applied at the rate of 150 kg/ha in Moldova (Yasin et al, 2013). The ultimate goal of growing sunflower is for edible oil contained in its seed and the oil yield is a function of the genotype, seed yield and oil concentration (de la Vega and Hall, 2002;Petcu et al, 2010).…”

“…We therefore decided to explore the potential of organic sunflower in the transition zone. The productivity of sunflower in terms of seed yield, oil and protein output varies widely depending on multifarious factors of the environment such as radiation (Dosio et al, 2000), temperature (Kaleem et al, 2009 and2011a), rainfall distribution (Lawal et al, 2011;Asbag et al, 2009;Olowe et al, 2013), agronomic practices like time of sowing (de la Vega and Hall, 2002;Lawal et al, 2011;Anjum et al, 2012), plant density and nitrogen nutrition (Ali et al, 2012), varying planting pattern (Yasin et al, 2013) and sowing of improved varieties and hybrids (Ali et al, 2011).…”