Agronomic performance of different stature sunflower cultivars under different levels of interplant competition

Abstract

Early-maturing, short-stature sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cultivars improve the adaptability of sunflower to the short growing season of western Canada. However, the agronomic potential of the recently developed dwarf cultivars in comparison to standard-height sunflower is yet to be understood. Multi-environment field studies, consisting of space-planted trials, where interplant competition was low, and agronomy trials, where plants were grown at commercial population densities, were conducted in southern Manitoba to compare the yield formation of dwarf hybrids (sunwheats; SW-101 arid SW-103), and dwarf open-pollinated cultivars (sunola; Aurora and Sierra) with that of standard-height cultivars (IS-6111 and SF-187). In space-planted trials, dry matter (DM) accumulation and water use efficiency for dry matter production (WUEDM) decreased as plant height decreased. In agronomy trials, differences in DM and WUEDM among the different height classes were masked. The diversion of assimilate from stem to head depended on the genetic background, while the efficiency of utilising assimilate in the head for seed production was lower in dwarf cultivars. Only one of the four dwarf cultivars (SW-103) displayed a higher harvest index than IS-6111. Higher seed yield for the standard-height cultivar, IS-6111, and the dwarf open-pollinated cultivar, Aurora, compared to other cultivars was attributed to both greater DM and improved DM partitioning. However, variations observed among the dwarf cultivars for DM accumulation and partitioning revealed that the dwarfing gene was not a limiting factor for breeding a dwarf sunflower cultivar with better partitioning of DM along with better yield potential.