Effects of foliar growth stimulants on vegetative development, yield components and oil productivity of sunflower hybrids
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32819/202603Keywords:
assimilatory surface; head diameter; thousand-seed weight; genotype-specific response; maturity groups; hydrothermal stress; moisture deficit; Northern Steppe of Ukraine.Abstract
Abstract. Sunflower productivity in the Northern Steppe of Ukraine is strongly constrained by unstable heat and moisture supply, which increases the importance of agronomic practices capable of sustaining canopy function and reproductive development under contrasting seasonal conditions. The objevtive of this study was to evaluate the effect of foliar application of growth stimulants on vegetative traits, yield components, seed yield, and seed oil content of sunflower hybrids belonging to different maturity groups. Field experiments were conducted in 2023–2025 on regular low-humus medium-loam chernozem at Dnipro State Agrarian and Economic University. Six hybrids were studied: BELVEDER and SUOMI (early-maturing), ES ELENIS and ALCANTARA (mid-early), and NK CONDI and SI AMAZONIA (mid-maturing). Foliar treatments included an untreated control, Vympel 2 at 0.5 L/ha, Avangard Grow Amino at 1.5 L/ha, and Avangard Grow Humate at 1.0 L/ha applied at the 6–8 leaf stage. Biometric traits were assessed at flowering, yield components at physiological maturity, and seed yield, oil content and conditional oil yield per hectare at harvest. Foliar treatments improved all studied traits relative to the untreated control. Under Avangard Grow Humate, plant height increased from 151–166 to 162–177 cm, the number of green leaves from 18.0–20.1 to 19.9–22.0 per plant, and leaf area from 21.4–27.0 to 28.8–34.8 thousand m²/ha. The improvement in canopy development was accompanied by a consistent increase in yield components: head diameter rose from 16.5–18.0 to 18.1–19.4 cm, seed weight per head from 54.4–63.6 to 64.9–73.3 g, number of seeds per head from 971–1,051 to 1,080–1,154, and 1,000-seed weight from 56.0–60.5 to 60.1–64.7 g. Seed yield increased from 2.45–2.86 t/ha in the control to 2.92–3.30 t/ha, whereas seed oil content increased from 49.8–51.1% to 51.1–52.3%. The highest seed yield was obtained in ALCANTARA (3.30 t/ha), while the highest oil content was recorded in SUOMI (52.3%). Conditional oil yield per hectare reached 1.70 t/ha in ALCANTARA and NK CONDI. Overall, foliar application of growth stimulants, particularly Avangard Grow Humate, proved to be an effective tool for improving sunflower productivity and oil output under the contrasting hydrothermal conditions of the Northern Steppe of Ukraine.
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