Evaluation of sunflower grain yield components under different levels of soil water stress in Azerbaijan

Abstract

In order to study yield and yield components of sunflower landraces under water deficit conditions, an experiment was conducted in the experimental field of Agricultural Research Center, West-Azerbaijan in 2012-2013 cropping seasons. The selected genotypes were evaluated in a rectangular 7 × 8 lattice design with two replications. They were treated by three irrigation scenarios including optimum irrigation, moderate stress and severe stress where irrigation was done after depletion of 50%, 70% and 90% of available water, respectively. A number of 56 confectionary sunflower landraces were investigated in this experiment. The results of combined analyzes showed that the single and combined effect of water treatments and genotypes on the majority of traits under study were significant. With increasing the severity of drought stress, grain yield, kernel to grain ratio, number of seeds per head, head diameter, 1000-seed's weight, biological yield and harvest index decreased while the hollowness percentage increased. Among the studied landraces, the highest grain yield was obtained from 'Angane 4' in optimum irrigation condition whereas in moderate and severe stress, 'Garagoz 1' and 'Salmas- Sadaghian' produced higher grain yield than the other landraces, respectively. At each level of irrigation, genotypes had different responses so that the suitable genotypes could be chosen for different conditions.