sunflower

Sunflower (English: Sunflower) H, the sun flower, or the sun is sold, the tendency of the sun, or the sunflower, is a herbaceous plant, and belongs to the asteraceae family, and it originates from the North American continent, which is an annual plant It is harvested once a year, and it consists of a large flower with golden yellow petals in the middle of a disc with a diameter of 10-30 cm. The disc contains small flowers that ripen to form seeds, and the sunflower plant has a thick, straight stalk with bristles, and has small oval-shaped upper leaves that grow larger Heading to the bottom of the stem, alternately arranged and tied individually on the stem of the plant, the plant ranges between 1-3.5 meters.

Sunflower is grown for decoration or to obtain seeds, which can be eaten dried, roasted, or ground with nut butter (in English: Nut butter), as well as placed with bird food grains, and oil is extracted from the seeds used in different types of food. Sunflower oil cake (in English: Sunflower oil cake) in making broth or used as chicken feed, and oil is used in making soaps, paints and lubricants, in addition to using sunflower leaves as fodder, and the yellow pigment is produced from plant flowers.

How to grow sunflower

Category Selection

The selection of the variety is important in the cultivation of sunflower seeds, in addition to taking into account a number of important factors, such as: the yield, quality factors, ripeness, drying, pest and disease resistance, and there are 3 varieties that can be chosen from, namely:

(NuSun Sunflower): This type produces the finest oils that contain 55% of Oleic Fatty Acid, and this type is used to produce bottled sunflower oil that is used in frying food.

(Traditional Sunflower): This variety is rich in good quality Linoleic Fatty Acid, while it lacks good quality oleic fatty acids compared to the previous type, and it is required in abundance for export to markets that sell peeled seeds.

(Confection Sunflower): This type is distinguished by the size of its large seeds with colored lines on the outer skin, and is used in markets that sell peeled and unpeeled seeds.

Land selection

Sunflower is grown in dry areas that depend on irrigation to produce the crop, and it can also be grown in temperate regions with the possibility of being exposed to frost, and the ideal temperature for its proper growth ranges between 18 ° -25 ° C, and the sunflower plant is one of the plants that They need a short period of light to produce their flowers and are called the Short-day Plant, but there are some varieties that bloom regardless of their exposure to the light and are called the Day-Neutral Plant.

Sunflower can grow in various types of soils, such as clay and sandy soils, and it does not need many nutrients to grow, such as corn crops, wheat, or potatoes, although its percentage in the plant is high, but it does not exploit it in growth. Once again the nutrients for the soil, but the most important component that contributes to plant growth is nitrogen, and sunflower plants are plants that do not tolerate high salinity in the soil, just like the maize, wheat, and shrimp crops, but it is better than soybeans and beans. Beetroot and barley are the crops most tolerant of salinity, and it is necessary for the soil to have good drainage of water; Because the sunflower crop does not resist floods like other crops.

Land preparation

Sunflower seeds are planted or sold without plowing the soil, but this can be done if it is necessary to plow them, taking into account preparing a suitable place for planting the seeds, and you must make sure that there are no spaces next to the seed when placed in the hole, and close it well so that it does not dry out, and when planting the seeds Without plowing the soil, it must be ensured that the pits are closed well after sowing, in addition to protecting it from insects that may attack it. [8] There are many tillage systems used to produce a healthy crop, but it has been proven that traditional systems increase the presence of potassium and nitrogen in the soil, and increase the degree of The temperature of the cultivated area, and among these traditional methods: moldboard plowing, and chisel plowing,However, due to soil erosion, farmers resort to plowing the furrows (in English: Ridge Tillage).

Seeding rate

The size of the sunflower seeds varies, so when estimating the seeding rate in a certain area of ​​land, the number of plants per dunum is determined, not the weight of the seeds for the same dunum, so in medium or at least medium soils the seeding rate ranges between 5-6 thousand plants / As for the higher yielding soil, the seeding rate ranges between 5.5-6.5 thousand plants / dunum

Farming

It is preferable to plant sunflower crops in late spring and early summer, and usually crops need 70 days to ripen in countries where the season is short such as Russia, while it needs 200 days in high-altitude regions such as Mexico, and it takes 130 days in regions. Subtropical, Farmers usually place seeds inside the soil in rows separated by distances of about 76 cm, or a split-row planter machine can be used to make the rows spaced 38 cm apart, and a seed planting machine (in English: Grain Drill) can be used to make pits - if you are not The first machine does exist - but it is difficult to use in making the distances uniform, and the benefits of planting rows less than that have not been proven.

It is preferable to plant the seeds at a small depth so that the plants will not suffer during their exit to the surface of the earth, and this is what happens when they are planted deep in moist and compact soil, and in general the seeds are placed at a depth of 3.8 cm when the soil is coarse-grained or when the soil is wet with the possibility of no precipitation Rain in the place, while the seeds are placed at a depth of about 2.5 cm when the soil is present in places where rain is likely, and in general sunflowers can be grown at the same depth that soybean seeds are grown

Water needs

The water needs of the sunflower crop are determined according to the climate and the period of the planting season, and the amount of water needed by the crop ranges between 600-1000 mm, and the transpiration of the sunflower plant increases as it ages, and it may range between 12-15 mm / day, and the total amount of water needed is distributed The yield during the growth stages is as follows:

20% in the vegetative period.

55% in the flowering period.

25% in the ripening period.

The percentage of water in the soil must not be less than 55%, especially during the period of germination. And because the roots grow deep, intensive irrigation must be done between 2-4 times in medium coarse soil, and pre-irrigation can be done when necessary, and surface irrigation (in English: Surface Irrigation) is the most suitable method for this type of crop, especially furrow irrigation (English: Furrow) Irrigation)

harvest

Sunflower crops ripen when the background color of the flower becomes yellow, and when it turns brown it is ready for harvesting, and several machines are used in this process, including:

Corn Heads: You must add a cutting knife to this tool before starting the harvesting process.

Row-crop heads are one of the best tools for harvesting; Because it is used without adding parts or tools to it.

Spare parts harvester: (Platform Heads), this machine can be used without adding some parts to it, but it causes significant loss and loss in yield compared to other machines, and it is also possible to add something like a bowl at the front of the machine to increase its efficiency.

The most important pest of the sunflower crop

There are many insects that can destroy the sunflower plant, including:

Nematodes Wireworms are soft and slender worms with a yellowish-white color tending to a coppery color. Their length ranges between 38-50 mm, and they have 3 pairs of small and slender legs behind their head, and the back of their body is full of thorns or serrations. And it spreads widely in fields planted with grain crops, and feeds on germinated seeds or young seedlings, which ultimately leads to the girl's wilting and death, and insecticides can be sprayed on the germinated seeds and seedlings to protect her from infection with this pest.

The sunflower stems weevil The Sunflower Stem Weevil is a brown-to-gray insect with different-shaped white spots on the wings and chest, the snout, eyes and antennae are black, and their length ranges between 4-5 mm This insect lays its eggs in the surface layer of the stems of the plant, which are oval with a yellow color, with a length of 0.51 mm, and a width of 0.33 mm, which is very small, which makes it difficult to see, and the length of the larvae ranges between 5-6 mm, and appears in white color without legs The adult insects cause damage to the stem and leaf tissue, and they can be eliminated by spraying insecticides in late June or early July, and planting can be delayed until late May or early June; To reduce the number of larvae in the stems of the crop, or reduce the plant density in the same place, and some may resort to plowing the land

The most important diseases of the sunflower crop Among the most important diseases that may affect the sunflower crop are the following:

Charcoal rot

 Charcoal rot is a fungal disease, which appears as a gray to silver lesion at the base of the plant stem, and black dust may appear inside the stem from the bottom, and ultimately it causes the death of the plant, and the vascular tissue is compressed in layers This disease appears in the environment in which the disease has previously appeared, and it increases when a wet spring season passes followed by hot and dry weather, as it appears in rare places with water such as sandy soil, or dry, or hot places, [10] and this disease can be prevented by The way to preserve soil moisture and prevent its drying through irrigation and control of weeds, in addition to reducing plant density, and conducting conservation tillage (Conservation Tillage)

Septoria Leaf Spot is a fungal disease whose symptoms appear on the plant as circular spots, or with corners submerged in water that appear on the leaves, their color is green, but most of these pests have a gray color that becomes darker at the ends and some of them become yellow Color, and black fungal bodies may appear sometimes, and this disease develops rapidly in hot or temperate climates with heavy rains, and this disease can be combated by planting disease-free plants, or rotating crops for 3 years, and the use of fungicides is not necessary In this case.

Writing Kifaya Al-Abadi

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