Abstract
An experiment was conducted to study the effects of different fertilizers doses of N, P and K on growth, yield and quality of hybrid sunflower at Agronomic Research Area, Faculty of Agriculture, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan during spring, 2011. An experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) by using four replications and ten treatments. The net plot size was kept as 3.6 m x 3 m (10.8 m2 ). The treatments with different fertilizer levels were T1= 50:30:10 NPK kg ha-1 ,T2 = 50:30:20 NPK kg ha-1 ,T3 = 50:30:30 NPK kg ha-1 ,T4 = 100:60:30 NPK kg ha-1 ,T5 = 100:60:40 NPK kg ha-1 ,T6 = 100:60:50 NPK kg ha-1 ,T7 = 150:90:40 NPK kg ha-1 ,T8 = 150:90:50 NPK kg ha-1 ,T9 = 150:90:60 NPK kg ha-1 and T10 (control) where no fertilizer were applied. All the growth and yield parameters were taken by using standard methods and analyzed statistically. Almost all the crop attributes including plant height, leaf area index, head diameter, number of achenes per head, 1000-achene weight, biological yield, grain yield and harvest index increased with increase in fertilizer levels except oil content. The results clearly revealed that highest achene yield (2955.5 kg ha-1 ), biological yield (12857 kg ha-1 ), 1000-achene weight (64.9 g), head diameter (31.1 cm), plant height (157.7 cm) were obtained by applying highest dose 150:90:60 NPK kg ha-1 . It is concluded from an experiment that the highest level of NPK (150:90:60 kg ha-1 ) for hybrid sunflower is recommended under the agro-climatic conditions of Dera Ismail Khan.
