INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF FOLIAR BORON AND FARMYARD MANURE ON GROWTH, YIELD, AND OIL CONTENT OF SUNFLOWER.

Abstract

There was a field trial. In the fall of 2023, a study was carried out at Sindh Agriculture University Tando jam Research Area of the Students' Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy. The purpose of the experiment was to investigate how boron administration affected sunflower plant growth, yield, and oil content. The methodology used in the experiment was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), with each treatment being replicated three times. Sunflower seeds were sown using a dibbler on ridges spaced 75 cm apart. The variety HO-1 was treated with different farmyard manure and boron foliar applications levels: T₁ = 00% B + Farmyard Manure (Control), T₂ = 0.5% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton, T₃ = 0.1% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton, T₄ = 0.2% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton, T₅ = 0.4% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton. Experiment analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows significant difference (P<0.05) for all growth, yield and oil content characteristics due to treatments. Maximum plant population (m^-2) (9.1), plant height (cm) (236.0 ), stem girth (cm) (10.8), head diameter (cm) (45.3), seeds head^-1 (1797.3), seed weight head^-1 (g) (58.6), seed index (g) (32.6), Seed yield (2183.3 kg ha^-1 ) oil content of 40.00% were recorded on T₅ = 0.4% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton. Similarly, T₄ = 0.2% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton with high plant population (m^-2) (8.2), plant height (cm) (231.0), stem girth (cm) (10.5), head diameter (cm) (43.3), seeds head^-1 (1561.3), seed weight head^-1 (g) (46.7), seed index (g) (30.0), Seed yield (1950.0 kg ha^-1), oil content of 39.1%. However minimum results were observed in T₁ = 00% B + Farmyard Manure (Control) high plant population (m^-2) (5.8), plant height (cm) (188.3), stem girth (cm)  (9.0), diameter (cm) (24.3), seeds head^-1 (1139.3), seed weight head^-1 (g) of (24.1), seed index (g) (21.0), Seed yield (1458.3 kg ha^-1 ) the lowest mean oil content 36.2%. After going through the findings of the present research, it was concluded that the growth and yield of sunflower increased simultaneously with increasing Boron levels; and the sunflower fertilized with T₅ = 0.4% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton resulted in highest seed yield (2183.3 kg ha^-1  ), followed by T₄ = 0.2% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton (1950.0 kg ha^-1) and T₃ = 0.1% B + Farmyard Manure @ 5 ton (1741.7 kg ha^-1). It was concluded that the impact of varying boron levels on sunflower growth, yield, and oil content reveals significant correlations, emphasizing the critical role of phosphorus in optimizing sunflower productivity.