Impact of enriched composts and varying dosages of chemical fertilizers on the production characteristics and quality of sunflower

Abstract

An experiment was done in pots with sunflower cv. Sunbred at the pot culture yard of the Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry at Annamalai University in Annamalainagar. The goal was to see how different amounts of chemical fertilizers and different kinds of enriched organic composts affected the sunflower. The initial levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the soil were 228 (low), 10.2 (low), and 317 (high) kg ha-1, respectively. The study used a factorial completely randomized design (FCRD) with three replications to treat five levels of factor-A (EC0–Control, EC1–EFYM, EC2–EWHC, EC3–ENLC, EC4–ESDC) and four levels of factor-B (CF0–Control, CF1–75% RDF, CF2–100% RDF, CF3–125% RDF) (20 treatment combinations). As a test crop, sunflower cv. Sunbred was given varying amounts of fertilizer and enriched composts in accordance with the treatment plan. For sunflowers, the recommended dosage of N:P2O5:K2O is 60:90:60 kg ha-1, administered as urea, SSP, and MOP, respectively. The results revealed that application of enriched composts and different levels of chemical fertilizers significantly increased the head diameter, total number of seeds per head, number of filled seeds per head, oil content, oil yield and crude protein. Among the different treatments, the combined application of CF3–125% RDF + enriched water hyacinth compost (EWHC) recorded the best among the above said parameters 19.81 cm, 935.45, 748.6, 39.6%, 16.5 g pot-1 and 16.9% respectively.