Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXI, Issue 2
Written by Adrian Gheorghe BĂȘA, Viorel ION, Marin DUMBRAVĂ, Lenuța Iuliana EPURE, Nicoleta ION
Sunflower is one of the most important crops in Romania, being cultivated on about one million hectares in the last years. Apart producing the seeds for oil production, sunflower is also one of the most important melliferous plants, providing important quantities of honey. But, in addition to the above mentioned consecrated uses, sunflower crop could be an important source of biomass, which can be used as raw material for biogas production. From this perspective, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the row spacing and the nitrogen fertilisation conditions on the biomass yield at the sunflower crop. For accomplishing this aim, a field experiment was performed in 2016 in the specific growing conditions from South Romania (44°29’ N latitude and 26°15’ E longitude), respectively at Moara Domnească Experimental Farm belonging to the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest. Four sunflower hybrids (Performer, Pro 144, P64LE19, and LG56.62) were studied at two row spacing (50 cm and 70 cm) and four nitrogen fertilisation conditions (0 kg.ha-1, 50 kg.ha-1, 100 kg.ha-1, and 50 + 50 kg.ha-1). The biomass determinations were performed in the early dough - dough plant growth stage. The obtained results showed that in the more favorable growing conditions represented by a better nitrogen supply through a nitrogen rate of 100 kg.ha-1 whether that was administrated in one application or in two applications of 50 kg.ha-1, the dry biomass yields were higher at wide row spacing (70 cm between rows) then at narrow row spacing (50 cm). In the contrary, in less favorable growing conditions represented by no nitrogen application and nitrogen rate of 50 kg.ha-1, the dry biomass yields were higher at narrow row spacing (50 cm between rows) then at wide row spacing (70 cm between rows).
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