Influence of Weather Parameters on Sunflower Production

摘要

Agriculture is often considered as gambling. Yield of any crop depends on two factors viz., genetic and environmental. Genetic factors are somewhat controllable by man but environmental factors are not manageable as they have wider variability. Climatic and edaphic factors are the most important environmental factors which limit the yield levels of crops very widely. Of the different climatic parameters, rainfall, temperature, sunshine hours and relative humidity are the prime parameters, which cannot be altered. Sunflower is one of the important oilseed crops that is becoming more popular among the farmers due to its photo-and thermo insensitiveness, short duration, wider adaptability to varied soil condition and higher oil yield per unit area. Though it is photo-and thermo insensitive in nature but its yield potentials are dependent upon weather parameters like rainfall under rainfed conditions. Sunflower is tolerant to drought but it requires moisture at its critical stages and rain-free periods at the time of flowering. Thus a study was made to understand the influence of weather parameters on sunflower production by comparing the data of experimental year (1999) with those of previous 11 years.