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 intwo different sites in the west desert part of AL-Anbar Governorate - Haditha cityto study the effect of different sources, rate and method of application zinc on twovarieties of sun flower yield . Zinc has been added from two sources / namely;ZnSo4.7H2O (23% Zn) and Zn - EDTA (13 %Zn) . Each source was applied in twomethods to soil and foliar application , with two levels 1.0 and 1.5 kg Zn ha-1 forfoliar and 4.0 & 8.0 kg Zn ha-1 for soil application , in addition to the controltreatment (without adding zinc) . Foliar application were added in two splits 25days after germination and at flowering stage . Using randomized complete blockdesign (RCBD) with three replicates for each treatment .At the first site , the results showed a high response of sunflower for all zincfertilization treatments. There was a significant increase in seed yield , oil , numberof seeds in disk , weight of 1000 seeds and concentration of zinc in the seeds ofsunflower Genotype -5 . The highest value was reached when adding 1.5 kg.ha-1zinc sprayed on the vegetative part . Seeds yield was 5903 kg . ha- 1 , oil yield was2792 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 theaddition of zinc at 1.5 kg .Zn .ha -1 sprayed on the vegetative part or addition ofZn - EDTA of 8 kg Zn .ha- 1 to the soil .In the second site ,on the other hand , fertilization treatment with zinc weresignificant in all studied characteristics . The highest plant height was 150 cmwhen treated with T8 ( adding 8.0 kg Zn ha-1 of EDTA to the soil) . As for the restof characteristics .the highest leaf area could be achieved was 6564 cm2 , thehighest number of seeds was 1353/ dick & 75.25 g / 1000 seeds -1 , the highestyield was 6320 kg seeds ha-1 and 3233 kg oil .h -1 and the highest zincconcentration 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 beachieved when treating the control group without adding zinc were as follows ;Flamme variety grown in the second site exceeded the yield of Geotype-5grown in the first site in all studied characteristics . Also , results have shown thatadding Zn- EDTA of 1.5 kg .Zn .ha -1 sprayed on the vegetative part was the bestin almost all cases in comparison with other treatments for both varieties and inboth sites .