Foliar nutrition is an important auxiliary tool in sunflower growing technology.
Mykola Kostiuk, manager for agronomic support of the western region.
Sunflower is a crop very demanding in soil fertility and responds quite well to a balanced portion of macronutrients. One-sided application of nitrogen fertilizers alone does not promote good plant growth and development. Such crops flower late, may lodge, and ripening will be stretched in time with high seed moisture. Applying microelements in modern sunflower growing technologies has long been a convincing argument,
leading to higher yield with improved quality traits. For full plant growth and development, B, Mn, Zn and Cu must be applied to sunflower crops. The key role belongs to boron, of which there should be no less than 300–400 g/ha for quality formation of the inflorescence, pollination of flowers and obtaining the maximum yield. Unlike macronutrients, which are applied to the soil, microelements are used by foliar application
in important periods of crop growth.
At our demo field at Mshanetske PJSC in Terebovlia district, Ternopil region, in the conditions of 2017 we used a foliar feeding scheme with microfertilizers from the Ecoorganic brand at the first important stage of sunflower growth (3–4 leaf pairs), when generative organs are laid down and the root system actively develops; at 6–8 leaf pairs, when vegetative mass actively grows and the head forms; and at the star stage, when they form.
As a result, the yield obtained, depending on the hybrid of particular maturity groups, was 3.65–4.39 t/ha at base moisture (diagram 1).
Field technology:
Sowing 26.04; harvest 10.10; preceding crop winter wheat; ploughing 27–30 cm; N130P78K78; density before harvest 58–72 thousand/ha; no weeds; soil dark gray forest; pH 6.0; precipitation during the season 208 mm.
Responsible agronomist-consultant Serhii Olkhovetskyi, 099-37-09-977.
On another part of the field, on the plot of the hybrid P64HE118 (Rm 45, high-oleic, ExpressSun), we set up
a trial with a control and foliar feeding with microfertilizers of the Ecoorganic brand (diagram 2).
The foliar feeding trial showed a good response of P64HE118 to microelement application. The yield gain over the control was 9.2%, or 0.28 t/ha.
To obtain 3 t of sunflower seed the following is needed:
Macronutrients:
N 45–90 kg
P 45–90 kg
K 45–90 kg
Ca 80 kg
Mg 80 kg
S 18 kg
Microelements:
B 400 g.
Mn 250 g
Zn 250 g
Cu 150 g
For technical questions on using Ecoorganic brand microfertilizers we recommend contacting Hryhorii Pedan, 067-469-75-19.