Effect of phosphorus and micronutrients on growth and yield of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif -2023 at the Crop Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, SHUATS, Prayagraj (U.P) on the topic “Effect of Phosphorus and Micro nutrients on Growth and Yield of Sunflower”, to study treatments consisting of three levels of Phosphorus viz. 60, 70, 80 kg/ha and Micro nutrients viz. Boron 2 kg/ha, Sulphur 20 kg/ha, Zinc 20 kg/ha. The soil of experimental plot was sandy loam in texture, nearly neutral in soil reaction (pH 7.1), low in organic carbon (0.36 %), available N (171.48 kg/ha), available P (15.20 kg/ha) and available K (232.5 kg/ha). There were 10 treatments each being replicated thrice and laid out in Randomized Block Design. The results revealed that significant and higher plant height (124.13 cm), higher plant dry weight (44.01 g), higher number of seeds/capitulum (316.80), higher test weight (51.62 g), higher seed yield (1.22 t/ha), higher stalk yield (3.24 t/ha) maximum gross returns (91,080.00 INR/ha), maximum net returns (62,005.08 INR/ha) and maximum B:C ratio (2.13) was recorded with Phosphorus (80 kg/ha) + Sulphur (20 kg/ha).