Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Vehari, Pakistan
  • 2 CIHEAM-IAMM, 3191 Route de Mende, Montpellier, France
  • 3 Agronomy Section, Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI), Multan, Pakistan
  • 4 College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China. shah_fahad80@yahoo.com
  • 5 Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
  • 6 Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
  • 7 Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
  • 8 Department of Chemical Engineering, CIIT, Lahore, Pakistan
  • 9 Department of Plant and Food Sciences, The Universityof Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • 10 Department of Arid Land Agriculture, Faculty of Meteorology,Environment & Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia
  • 11 Department of Horticulture, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China
  • 12 Institute of Environmental Engineering, School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Hunan, China
  • 13 Department of Soil Science, University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2016 Feb;23(4):3658-70.
PMID: 26498803 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-015-5613-1

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is an important yield limiting factor for sunflower production. The correlation between yield components and growth parameters of three sunflower hybrids (Hysun-33, Hysun-38, Pioneer-64A93) were studied with five N rates (0, 60, 120, 180, 240 kg ha(-1)) at three different experimental sites during the two consecutive growing seasons 2008 and 2009. The results revealed that total dry matter (TDM) production and grain yield were positively and linearly associated with leaf area index (LAI), leaf area duration (LAD), and crop growth rate (CGR) at all three sites of the experiments. The significant association of yield with growth components indicated that the humid climate was most suitable for sunflower production. Furthermore, the association of these components can be successfully used to predict the grain yield under diverse climatic conditions. The application of N at increased rate of 180 kg ha(-1) resulted in maximum yield as compared to standard rate (120 kg ha(-1)) at all the experimental sites. In this way, N application rate was significantly correlated with growth and development of sunflower under a variety of climatic conditions. Keeping in view such relationship, the N dose can be optimized for sunflower crop in a particular region to maximize the productivity. Multilocation trails help to predict the input rates precisely while taking climatic variations into account also. In the long run, results of this study provides basis for sustainable sunflower production under changing climate.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.