EXOGENOUSLY FOLIAGE APPLIED MICRONUTRIENTS EFFICACIOUS IMPACT ON ACHENE YIELD OF SUNFLOWER UNDER TEMPERATE CONDITIONS

Abstract

Climate change, rapidly increasing population and decreasing fertile lands demand boosting the productivity of oil seed crops. In hilly areas, micronutrients losses are high owing to leaching and runoff which negatively effects crops yield. A field trial was executed to evaluate the impact of foliage applied micronutrients (zinc 0.5%, boron 0.7% and manganese 0.7%) solely and in co-application, on agro-morphological traits and achene yield of sunflower. The relationship among yield attributes and achene yield of sunflower was also determined through correlation analysis. Solo applied boron (0.7%) remained unmatched by recording the maximum yield attributes such as plant height, stem girth, number of leaves, head diameter and weight, number of achene per head and 100-achene weight which led to the highest achene yield (0.96 t ha(-1)). The co-application of zinc and boron followed solely applied boron, while manganese applied solely or in conjunction with zinc and boron remained inferior to rest of the micronutrients. The correlation analysis revealed direct interrelationships among yield attributes (plant height, stem girth, head diameter and weight) and achene yield of sunflower and thus indicating the need to exogenously supply micronutrients especially boron for improving the agro-botanical traits and economic yield of sunflower under temperate conditions of rainfed regions. However, there is a dire need to conduct further studies to comparatively evaluate and optimize the doses of micronutrients including silicon and copper which may impart drought tolerance to rainfed sunflower under varying pedo-climatic conditions.