RESPONSE OF TWO VARIETIES OF SUN FLOWERS CULTIVATED IN TWO DESERT SOIL TO FERTILIZATION WITH ZINC.

Abstract

Tow field experiments were conducted during the spring season of 2010 in two different sites in the west desert part of AL-Anbar Governorate - Haditha city to study the effect of different sources, rate and method of application zinc on two varieties of sun flower yield . Zinc has been added from two sources / namely; ZnSo 4.7H 2O (23% Zn) and Zn - EDTA (13 %Zn) . Each source was applied in two methods to soil and foliar application , with two levels 1.0 and 1.5 kg Zn ha -1 for foliar and 4.0 & 8.0 kg Zn ha-1 for soil application , in addition to the control treatment (without adding zinc) . Foliar application were added in two splits 25 days after germination and at flowering stage . Using randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates for each treatment . At the first site , the results showed a high response of sunflower for all zinc fertilization treatments. There was a significant increase in seed yield , oil , number of seeds in disk , weight of 1000 seeds and concentration of zinc in the seeds of sunflower Genotype -5 . The highest value was reached when adding 1.5 kg.ha-1 zinc sprayed on the vegetative part . Seeds yield was 5903 kg . ha - 1 , oil yield was 2792 kg .ha - 1 ,1519 seeds . disk - 1 , 251.1 g / 1000 seeds and 35.23 mg Zn kg - 1 , respectively . It was not significantly different from the treatment with the addition of zinc at 1.5 kg .Zn .ha -1 sprayed on the vegetative part or addition of Zn - EDTA of 8 kg Zn .ha - 1 to the soil . In the second site ,on the other hand , fertilization treatment with zinc were significant in all studied characteristics . The highest plant height was 150 cm when treated with T8 ( adding 8.0 kg Zn ha-1 of EDTA to the soil) . As for the rest of characteristics .the highest leaf area could be achieved was 6564 cm2 , the highest number of seeds was 1353/ dick & 75.25 g / 1000 seeds -1 , the highest yield was 6320 kg seeds ha-1 and 3233 kg oil .h -1 and the highest zinc concentration in seeds was 41.23 mg .kg -1 when treated with T4 (adding 1.5 kg .Zn .ha -1 of EDTA sprayed on the vegetative part ) . The least results that could be achieved when treating the control group without adding zinc were as follows ; Flamme variety grown in the second site exceeded the yield of Geotype-5 grown in the first site in all studied characteristics . Also , results have shown that adding Zn- EDTA of 1.5 kg .Zn .ha -1 sprayed on the vegetative part was the best in almost all cases in comparison with other treatments for both varieties and in both sites .