RESPONSE OF SOME SUNFLOWER HYBRIDS TO ZINC FOLIAR SPRAYING AND PHOSPHORUS FERTILIZER LEVELS UNDER SANDY SOILS CONDITIONS

Abstract

Abstract Two field experiment were conducted at AL-Quba district- Mosul city during two successive growing seasons of 2010: spring and autumn in a sandy loam soil to study the effect of zinc foliar application and addition of phosphorus fertilizer to the soil on growth characters, yield components and quality of some sunflower hybrids (Helianthus annuus L.). The experiment carried out according to the factorial experiment in a randomized completely block design, consisting of three concentrations of zinc (0, 4, 8 mg.L-1) and three levels of phosphorus fertilizer (0,100 and 200 kg P.ha-1) added as tricalcium superphosphate (48% P2O5) with three sunflower hybrids (Pheobus, Iraqi flower and Euroflor). The results showed that the foliar application of the zinc on plant leaves with concentration 8 mg.L-1 lead to a significant increased in plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, head diameter, no. of seeds.head-1, 1000 seed weight, seed yield, oil percentage, oil yield, protein percentage and protein yield in spring and autumn seasons. The addition of phosphorus fertilizer to the soil with the level 100 kg.ha-1 lead to a significant increase in all parameters in both seasons except stem diameter in autumn season. The Iraqi flower hybrid gave a high values for all studied characters in seasons spring and autumn seasons. The interaction between zinc × phosphorus fertilizer level gave a significant increases on the following characters: leaf area, head diameter, 1000 seed weight, seed yield, oil and protein yield in spring and autumn seasons. The interaction among three factors led to a significant effect on following characters: head diameter, no. of seeds.head-1 and seed yield in spring season only..

Keywords

Sunflower, Zn, Soil