Important Tips for the Successful Cultivation of Sunflower

By Vivek Kumar 

Production of oilseed crops in India is much less than required. To bridge this demand-supply gap, large quantities of vegetable oils have to be imported every year. Therefore, in order to increase the production of oilseeds in the country, their cultivation needs to be encouraged. Being a short-duration crop, sunflower is proving to be a very suitable crop for increasing the production of oilseeds. Sunflower is considered to be an excellent oilseed crop due to its high oil content and low cholesterol content in its oil. In addition, sunflower oil is considered to be a boon for good health as it is rich in linoleic acid, protein and vitamins A, B, D and E. Recognizing its importance, the Government of India has increased its minimum support price (MSP) from Rs. 4100 per quintal in 2017-18 to Rs. 5650 per quintal in 2019-20 to encourage its cultivation.

Spring season is considered to be the best time for sunflower cultivation in the Northern Indian region. Due to the abundance of honey bees during this season, pollination is improved which helps in good seed setting and thus, helps in increasing the yield. In order to get a higher yield from sunflower crops, the following tips suggested by Punjab Agricultural University should be taken into consideration.

1. Selection of variety: Hybrids PSH 2080, PSH 1962, DK3849, PSH996, PSH569, PSFH118 and SH3322 are recommended for the cultivation of sunflowers in Punjab.  Among these, SH 3322 takes 120 days to mature while other varieties mature in 96 to 102 days.

2. Soil type and land preparation: Sunflower requires well-drained, medium-textured soil. Salt-affected soils should be avoided. Two or three ploughings, followed by planking, should be done to get a fine seedbed for the sunflower.

3. Time of Sowing: To realize a high seed yield and to save irrigation water, January is the optimum sowing time for sunflowers. However, if the planting is delayed till the first week of February, hybrid PSH 2080, PSH 1959, PSH 569 and PSH 996 should be preferred. Further delay in sowing reduces the yield considerably, so in such cases, it is beneficial to grow the crop by transplanting method.

4. Seed rate and method of sowing: For sowing of one acre, 2 kg seed after treated with Tagron 35 WS (metalaxyl) @ 6 g per kg seed should be sown at inter- and intra-row spacing of 60 cm and 30 cm, respectively. Sowing should be done at a depth of 4-5 cm. Row crop planter (inclined plate) can be conveniently used for flat or ridge sowing of sunflower seeds. To get a higher yield from the early sown crop, the crop should be planted on the southern side of East-West ridges. The seed should be placed about 6-8 cm below the ridge top.  The ridge-sown crop should be irrigated 2-3 days after sowing keeping the water level well below the seed placement line. Crop grown on ridges does not lodge and it also helps in saving water in the hot summer months. 

If sowing is likely to be delayed to the second fortnight of February, the crop should be raised by transplanting method for getting higher yield and early maturity than that of the seeded crop. For the sowing of the nursery, 1.5 kg seed should be sown in a well-prepared bed of about one and a half marla (30 square meters per acre). The nursery should be irrigated before uprooting. Transplanting should be done at the 4-leaf stage at an inter- and intra-row spacing of 60 cm and 30 cm, respectively followed by irrigation.

5. Intercropping with Mentha: Mentha can be successfully grown as an intercrop in sunflower to increase income. For this, two rows of mentha should be sown at the end of January between two lines of sunflowers grown at 120 cm x 15 cm in the North-South direction. Mentha suckers should be used @ 150 kg per acre. In addition to fertilizers recommended for sunflowers, 50 kg urea and 75 kg superphosphate per acre should be applied. Full phosphorus and half nitrogen should be applied at planting and the remaining half nitrogen at 40 days after planting. 

6. Fertilizer application: Fertilizers should be applied on a soil test basis. In the absence of a soil test, it is recommended to apply 50 kg urea and 75 kg superphosphate per acre to the crop. All fertilizers should be applied at the time of sowing. In coarse-textured soils, urea should be applied in two equal splits, the first at sowing time and the second 30 days after sowing. Potash should only be applied if the soil test shows a deficiency of this nutrient. Sunflower following toria should be applied with 10 tonnes of farmyard manure (FYM) along with the recommended fertilizers. However, sunflower grown after potato receiving 20 tonnes FYM per acre requires half of the recommended dose of urea.

7. Irrigation: Sunflower crop requires 6-9 irrigations depending on soil type, rainfall and weather conditions. For flat-sown crops, the first irrigation should be applied one month after sowing and the next 2-3 irrigations should be applied at weekly intervals. This interval should be reduced to 2 weeks during March and to 8-10 days during the hot summer months of April-May. The last irrigation should be applied 12-14 days before harvesting. It is very important to irrigate the crop at 50% flowering, soft and hard dough stages. Drip irrigation and fertigation method is very useful for getting higher yields and saving water and fertilizer. For this purpose, the crop should be sown on ridges spaced 60 cm apart with a plant-to-plant distance of 30 cm. This method of irrigation also reduces the weed infestation in the field and also increases the yield.

8. Weed Control: The first hoeing should be done 2-3 weeks after the emergence followed by the second hoeing three weeks thereafter.

9. Harvesting and Threshing: The crop should be harvested when heads turn yellowish-brown at the lower surface near the stalk and the discs start drying up. At this stage, the seeds give blackish look and are fully ripe. The cut heads should be dried before threshing as the performance of the sunflower thresher is better when the crop is dry. Seeds should be thoroughly dried after threshing and before storing them to protect the stored seeds from fungus.