Comparative performance of sunflower grown with organic and inorganic soil amendments.

Abstract

Sunflower is a very important ornamental plant that is in high demand for its aesthetic value and oil. Soil amendments applied at the right rates and conditions act as plant food and promote growth and overall plant health, thus the need to determine the type and rate of organic or inorganic fertilizer that is suitable to give maximum growth and yield. Field experiments were carried out from 2008 to 2011 at the experimental field of the Floriculture Programme, National Horticultural Research Institute, NIHORT, Ibadan, Nigeria under rainfed conditions to determine the need for fertilizer application in sunflower production. Tested treatments include; control (with no fertilizer treatment); poultry manure at 10tha-1 and 20tha-1; cow dung at 10tha-1 and 20tha-1; NPK 15:15:15 at 30kgNha-1 and 60kgNha–1. Experimental design was randomized complete block design with three replications. Data collected include; plant height, number of leaves, stem diameter, flower diameter, number of flowers and number of marketable flowers. The results showed that all growth and flower yield parameters considered were significantly increased by the application of soil amendments. Poultry manure at 20 t ha-1 gave the best average performance for all parameters across the four years of the study. The economic analysis showed that cowdung at 20tha-1 gave the highest gross margin of N775,000.