EditorSunflower is one of the most important oil seeds that contribute to edible oil in the world. Sunflower is very rich in Vitamin E, which aids in the proper functioning of the circulatory system and helps the blood to clot readily during external wounds1.
Chemical fertilizers have been traditionally used to improve and maintain soil fertility for yield improvement. Numerous field experiments conducted throughout the world have shown that nitrogen fertilizer is one of the most prevalent elements for plant survival and acts as a key contributing factor towards wholesome improvement in agriculture production2.
Nitrogen is a major nutrient that enhances protein metabolic processes, leading to increased crop vegetative growth and improved yield. A number of crops are very sensitive to Nitrogen application and sunflower is one of them3. In a previous study it was reported that that excessive nitrogen fertilization resulted in reduced sunflower yield, while other literature confirmed that a higher nitrogen application reduces oil content4.
Despite all these attributes, sunflower establishment and associated factors to enhance its performance are of much concern. In the view of above mentioned context a new study was undertaken to assess the required nitrogen level for enhancing sunflower growth parameters and yield attributes5.
For the study purpose, a field experiment was undertaken in a randomized complete block design using nine treatments of nitrogen different levels. Treatments were divided from T1 to T9 accordingly. All treatments had three repetitions.
The experimental outcomes showed that the sunflower plant growth parameters and yield attributes were increased significantly with the increase of nitrogen fertilizers. Treatment T9 with NPK (100-50-30) was the most effective and could not only enhance significantly the plant height and head diameter, but also increase stem girth, leaves pair number, grains number, full grains number and remarkably increased total grains yield weight.
Treatment T9 could also effectively improve the ratio of sunflower different parts. Likewise, all the analyzed parameters were highly and positively correlated. Considering all tested index in this research, T9, NPK (100-30-50), was the most effective treatment in improving the growth characteristics and yield attributes of sunflower plant. This suggested that treatment T9 could improve sunflower growth parameters and yield attributes in Burundi country. Further research may be required in this area for more improvement of this crop.
Keywords:
Nitrogen fertilizer, sunflower, plant height, head diameter, stem girth, pair leaves, grain weight, Burundi country, yield attributes, growth characteristics, total grains, yield weight, oil content, associated factors, sunflower establishment.
References:
- Organic Facts, 2018. Benefits & uses of sunflower.
- Singh, M., M.M.A. Khan and M. Naeem, 2016. Effect of nitrogen on growth, nutrient assimilation, essential oil content, yield and quality attributes in Zingiber officinale Rosc. J. Saudi Soc. Agric. Sci., 15: 171-178.
- Zubillaga, M.M., J.P. Aristi and R.S. Lavado, 2002. Effect of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilization on sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) nitrogen uptake and yield. J. Agron. Crop Sci., 188: 267-274.
- Toosi, A.F. and M. Azizi, 2014. Effect of different sources of nitrogen fertilizer on yield and yield components of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Scient. Papers Ser.: Agron., 57: 364-366.
- Chantal, K., Ongor, B.T., Bandushubwenge, D., Soter, N. and Felix, S., 2018. Effects of Different Nitrogen Fertilizer Levels on Sunflower Growth and Yield Attributes. Pak. J. Nutr., 17: 557-562.
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