Sunflower Yield and Quality Under the Influence of Sowing Date, Plant Population and the Hybrid

Abstract

Sunflower yield and quality can be significantly increased by optimizing agricultural practices and in corroboration with plant characteristics and environment. Sowing time and plant population are two important factors which affects vegetation and sunflower production. The paper focuses on the influence of these factors in conjunction with other technological elements and the climatic evolution on the final production and its quality in the southern part of the country. The researches were performed during the 2019-2021, in the experimental field of NARDI Fundulea and the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of sowing date, plant population and climatic conditions on the yield and quality of sunflower. Experimental treatment comprised three different sowing dates (I - April 1, II - April 15 and III - May 1), using three sunflower hybrids (FD15E27, FD19E42 and Performer) and three plant populations (30,000, 50,000 and 70,000 plants/hectare). Rainfall was uneven during the growing season, from year to year, and maximum sunflower production and quality was maximized from medium plant density and earlier sowing dates, depending on hybrid and technology. The oil content varied widely between 44.2-50.0% depending on the hybrid and plant density and sowing date. The early sowing date led to increase of oil content, which was depending on climatic conditions and plant populations. The primary source of variation was the sowing date, the difference between oil content in early and late sowing dates was influenced by plant population, hybrid and year varying from 0.7% to 5.8%. The seeds yield and quality of the sunflower were significantly influenced by the climatic conditions of the agricultural year, the sowing date, the plant population and used hybrids, as well as the interaction between these factors.