Effect of Organic, Chemical and Combined Fertilizers on Some Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Three Sunflower (Heliantus annuus L.) Cultivars

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of chemical, organic and integrated fertilizers on some characteristics of sunflower cultivars.

The experiment was carried out in the form of split plots in the form of a randomized complete block design in three replications at the Zahak Agricultural Research Station in Sistan and Baluchistan province. The main factor including control (no fertilizer application), compost (40 tons per hectare), humic acid (5 liters per hectare), chemical fertilizer (150 kg urea, 100 kg phosphorus and 100 kg potash) , compost and humic acid (20 tons per hectare of compost + 2.5 liters per hectare) and humic acid + chemical fertilizer (2.5 liters per hectare + 75 kg of urea, 50 kg of phosphorus and 50 kg of potash). The sub-factor was three sunflower cultivars Shams, Qasem and Haysan 25 .

The highest head diameter from humic acid + compost and Shams cultivar , weight 1000 seeds from humic acid + chemical fertilizer and Shams, number of seeds per head from humic acid + compost and Shams, and biological yield were obtained from humic acid + chemical fertilizer and Shams cultivar. Biological yield of Shams, Ghasem and Haysan 25 cultivars in humic acid + chemical fertilizer compared to the control increased by 39.2%, 31.5% and 34.5%, respectively.

Use of organic fertilizers and integrated nutrition management are among the effective methods to improve the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of sunflower, which reduces the use of chemical fertilizers.