Potassium fertilization improves growth, yield and seed quality of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under drought stress at different growth stages

Abstract

Water scarcity is a major concern for sunflower production in the semi-arid and arid regions of the world. Potassium (K) application has been found effective to alleviate the influence of drought stress; however, the impact of drought stress on seed quality of sunflower has not been reported frequently. Therefore, a field experiment was performed to determine the optimum K requirement for mitigating the adverse effects of water stress and improving growth and seed quality of spring-planted sunflower. Sunflower plants were exposed to water stress at different growth stages, i.e., Io = no stress (normal irrigation), I1 = pre-anthesisi stress (irrigation skipped at pre-anthesis stage), I2 = anthesis stress (irrigation skipped at anthesis stage) and I3 = post-anthesis stress (irrigation skipped at post-anthesis stage). Potassium was applied at four different rates, i.e., Ko = 0, K1 = 50, K2 = 100 and K3 = 150 kg ha-1. The results revealed that water stress at pre- and post-anthesis stages significantly reduced plant height, head diameter, number of achenes, oleic acid contents, and phosphorus (P) uptake. However, pre-anthesis stress improved linoleic acid contents. Treatment IoK3 (stress-free with 150 kg ha-1 K) was optimum combination for 1000-achene weight, biological and achene yields, oil contents, protein contents, and N and P uptake. Results indicated that a higher amount of K and irrigation resulted in higher yield, whereas yield and yield components decreased with early-stage water stress. Nevertheless, potassium application lowered the impacts of waters stress compared to no application. Keeping in view these results, it is recommended that sunflower must be supplied 150 kg ha-1 K in arid and semi-arid regions to achieve higher yield and better seed quality.

Agro-Morphological Traits of Inbred Sunflower Lines and their Genetic Assessment

“…Ćuk et al (2020) report that there is a high degree of variability in the quantitative traits of inbred sunflower lines created at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad. The results of this research are consistent with those ofĆirić et al (2013),Radić et al (2013),Hladni et al (2014),Babec et al (2020),Dar et al (2021) andKrstić et al (2021a).…”

“…Incomplete or inadequate fertilization (Miklič et al, 2011), diseases (Kaya & Day, 2008) and unfavorable weather conditions during grain filling (Angeloni et al, 2021) can greatly affect the seed size and/or 1000-seed weight of sunflowers. There are also statistically highly significant differences between the sunflower genotypes relative to their head diameters (Ćirić et al, 2013;Babec et al, 2020;Dar et al, 2021). Variations in the sunflower head diameter largely depend on the photosynthetic activity, which depends on the composition of plants per unit area (Saleem et al, 2019).…”

Foliar Application of Potassium Mitigates Salinity Stress Conditions in Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) through Reducing NaCl Toxicity and Enhancing the Activity of Antioxidant Enzymes

“…However, conditions become unfavorable for plants in saline soil. The Na competes with K as they both have similar ionic radius that causes deficiency of K, along with the accumulation of Na [6,10]. Ali et al [48] stated that foliar usage of SO 4 form of K gave better straw yield and paddy, K content of paddy and straw and number of tillers.…”

“…According to the Department of Economics and Social Welfare, United Nations, "The Sustainable Development Goal 2" (SDG 2) aims to "end hunger, by ensuring food security and enhanced nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture" [8]. Potassium (K), being an important intracellular cation and essential macronutrient for plants is not only required for proper functioning of plant metabolism [9], but also plays a vital role in human health through its nutritional functions [10]. The enrichment of dietary sources with K is becoming increasingly important for the maintenance of acid-base balance, osmotic pressure and water balance [9,11,12].…”

Retraction: Potassium fertilization improves growth, yield and seed quality of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under drought stress at different growth stages

“…The PLOS ONE Editors retract this article [ 1 ] because it was identified as one of a series of submissions for which we have concerns about authorship, competing interests, and peer review. We regret that the issues were not addressed prior to the article’s publication.…”