IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2012) 3-1

Research articleerd

Potential of Sunflower Varieties Grown under Different
Input Levels
PANTIPA NA CHIANGMAI*
Faculty of Animal Sciences and Agricultural Technology, Silpakorn University, Phetchaburi,Thailand
Email: m_surin@yahoo.com, pantipa@su.ac.th

LAMDUAN KRITTAWONGWIMAN
Chaipattana-Mae Fah Luang Reforestation Project, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, Thailand

PAISAN LAOSUWAN
Faculty of Science and Technology, Hatyai University, Songkhla Province, Thailand
Received 14 December 2011

Accepted 18 April 2012(*: Corresponding Author)Abstract This experiment was aimed to investigate the potential of sunflower varieties(Helianthus annuus L.) grown under different levels of inputs. Sunflower varieties
consisted of two hybrids (Pacific 77 and Olison 3) and two synthetic varieties (Suranaree(S) 471 and Suranaree (S) 473). Input levels were low, medium and high packages whichwere obtained from the combination of levels of weed control and fertilizer applications.
The study was conducted in a strip-plot design in the dry season of 2010 and 2011 atChaipattana-Mae Fah Luang Reforestation Project, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand. The
results showed that both synthetic varieties outyielded the two hybrids. S471 produced thehighest yield of 2,269 kg ha-1. However, the oil content of Pacific 77 was the highest, with42 percent. The responses of sunflower varieties to levels of input were not significant
almost for all characters except for oil content. Seed yields were 1,931, 2,025 and 2,375 kg
ha-1 for low, medium and high input packages, respectively. Seed size showed positive
association with the levels of input. However, the oil content did not increase with theincrease of input levels. The net income of all varieties grown under different levels ofinput were estimated by using the farm gate price. The highest net income of 21,500 bahtha-1 was obtained from S471 grown under the lowest input level. For this study where thesoil is quite fertile, the lowest input levels should be used for all varieties of sunflower.
Keywords Sunflower, Helianthus annuus, synthetic varieties, packages of input

INTRODUCTION
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) has been grown widely in the central part of Thailand for oil,seed meal and tourist attraction. Hybrid varieties have been used mostly by farmers as they foundthat these varieties produced well and give uniform performance for most characters. However, thecost of seed is high because it has to be imported. To reduce this problem in Thailand, many
synthetic varieties were developed to be used as stop gap varieties (Kaewmeechai et al., 1989;
Laosuwan, 1997). High yield is usually favorable regardless the levels of inputs in terms ofchemicals and labor. However, what farmers should need most is the highest net income. Therefore,
certain measures for crop production were called package of input by Laosuwan and Macartney in1992, which were tested in many crops; especially peanut (Laosuwan and Macartney, 1992). This
also should be used to evaluate the potential of sunflower production on-farm. The objectives ofthis study were to evaluate the potential of hybrid and synthetic varieties of sunflower for yield andother characters. They were also evaluated for net income due to the application of different levelsof input.

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METHODOLOGYThis experiment was conducted at the Chaipattana Mae-Fah Luang Reforestation Project at
Prachuap Khiri Khan in 2010-2011. Four varieties of sunflower including two hybrid varieties(Pacific 77 and Olison 3) and two synthetic varieties (Suranaree (S) 471 and Suranaree (S) 473)
were used. Three input levels were formulated to explore the response of sunflower and to estimate
the net income. These input levels were (1) low input level: no fertilizer was applied and weedcontrol was made only once, (2) medium input level: 187.5 kg ha-1 of 15-15-15 NPK fertilizer wasapplied only once at planting and the weed control was made only once, and (3) high input level:
250 kg ha-1 NPK fertilizer was applied at planting and 1,250 kg ha-1 of organic fertilizer wasapplied before the flowering stage. In this treatment package, the weed control was continuously
made to provide a weed free condition.
The study was conducted in a strip-plot design with four replications. Six rows each 5 m long
were used for each plot with spacing of 0.75 m between rows and 0.25 m between hills. The data
were recorded for seed yield and seed size. The seed sample was taken from each treatment toanalyze for oil contents.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Data for seed yield, seed size and oil contents are shown in Tables 1 and 2. Although the results
were not statistically different, S471 tended to give the highest yield, S473 ranked second, Pacific
77 ranked third and Olison 3 gave the lowest yield (Table 1). This study showed that synthetic
varieties tended to give higher seed yield than hybrids or at least similar. However, otherexperiments showed that synthetic varieties usually yielded lower than hybrids (Kaewmeechai etal., 1989; Laosuwan, 1997; Satjawattana, 2001).
Table 1 Seed yield of 4 varieties of sunflower grown under 3 input levels in 2010-2011 at
Chaipattana-Mae Fah Luang Reforestation Project, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand
Variety
Pacific 77
Olison 3
Suranaree (S)471
Suranaree (S)473
Mean (kg ha-1)

Low
1,988
1,506
2,231
1,981
1,931

Environment (E)Varieties (V)Input levels (I)nsnsnsMean (kg ha-1)

Input levels
Medium
2,138
1,506
2,262
2,075
2,025High2,294
2,231
2,319
2,675
2,375

VxI
VxE
IxE
VxIxE

nsnsnsns

2,150
1,775
2,269
2,238

Table 2 Seed size (1,000 seeds weight; g) and oil content (%) (in parentheses) of 4 varieties ofsunflower grown under 3 input levels in 2010-2011 at Chaipattana-Mae Fah Luang
Reforestation Project, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.
Variety
Pacific 77
Olison 3
Suranaree (S)471
Suranaree (S)473
Mean
Environment (E)Varieties (V)Input levels (I)Low
46 (42 ab)
43 (38 ab)
56 (40 ab)
50 (32 b)
49 b (38 a)** (**)** (**)** (**)

Input levels
Medium50 (44 a)
50 (35 ab)
60 (39 ab)
57 (35 ab)
54 a (38 a)
VxI
VxE
IxE
VxIxE

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MeanHigh
59 (40 ab)
50 (41 ab)
61 (33 ab)
54 (32 b)
56 a (36 b)
ns (**)
ns (**)
ns (**)
ns (**)

52 b (42 a)
47 c (38 b)
59 a (37 c)
53 b (33 d)

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2012) 3-1

Data for seed size (Table 2) showed that S471 gave the largest seed and the smallest seed wasfound for Olison 3. However, both synthetic varieties gave lower oil content than hybrids, while thehighest oil content was given by Pacific 77 and the lowest by S473.
Responses to levels of input were found for all characters observed in the study except seedyield. However, the high input level gave the highest seed yield and the low input gave the lowest.
The same responses were found for seed size where the character increased due to the increase ofinput levels. However, the low and medium input levels gave higher oil contents than the highinput level, indicating that a negative response was obtained for this character.
The cost of input levels were roughly estimated for this experiment and many details may havenot been considered (Table 3). However, it was considered that input levels are important foreconomic yield of all crop production by subsistent farmers.
Table 3 Cost of different input levels used in the experiment at Chaipattana-Mae Fah Luang
Reforestation Project, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand
Input costFertilizer input
Fertilizer
Labor
Weed control
Others  1
Total  1Low input
0001,250
10,12511,375

Medium input
3,125
1,875
1,250
2,500
10,12515,750High input
5,000
3,125
1,850
3,750
10,12518,875

Cost due to land preparation, disease and pest controls; labors for planting, harvesting, threshing, etc.

Table 4 Net income for all varieties of sunflower grown under different levels of input
estimated by using the farm gate price
Variety
Pacific 77

Olison 3S471

S473

12

Cost-income
Low
1,988
15
29,82011,3752,125
16,3201,500
1522,50011,375
2,125
9,000
2,225
15
33,375
11,375500
21,5001,975
1529,62511,375500
17,750

Yield  (kg ha-1)
Farm gate price (baht kg-1)
Gross income (baht ha-1) 1
Production cost (baht ha-1)
Seed cost (baht ha-1)
Net income (baht ha-1) 2
Yield  (kg ha-1)
Farm gate price (baht kg-1)
Gross income (baht ha-1)
Production cost (baht ha-1)
Seed cost (baht ha-1)
Net income (baht ha-1)
Yield  (kg ha-1)
Farm gate price (baht kg-1)
Gross income (baht ha-1)
Production cost (baht ha-1)
Seed cost (baht ha-1)
Net income (baht ha-1)
Yield  (kg ha-1)
Farm gate price (baht kg-1)
Gross income (baht ha-1)
Production cost (baht ha-1)
Seed cost (baht ha-1)
Net income (baht ha-1)

Gross income = Yield x farm gate price
Net income = Gross income - production cost - seed cost

Input levels
Medium2,138
15
32,07015,7502,125
14,195
1,588
15
23,82015,750
2,125
5,945
2,262
15
33,93015,750500
17,6802,075
15
31,12515,750500
14,875

High
2,294
15
34,41018,8752,125
13,4102,231
1533,46518,8752,125
12,4652,319
1534,78518,875500
15,4102,675
15
40,12518,87550020,750(1)(2)

The net income for all varieties of sunflower due to the applications of all input levels areshown in Table 4. The highest net income of 21,500 bath ha-1 was obtained from S471 grown under
the low input level followed by 20,750 bath ha-1 from S473 grown under the high input level. TheⒸISERD187

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net incomes obtained for hybrid varieties were lower than those of synthetic varieties for all input
levels. This partly due to the high seed cost which was about four times higher than that ofsynthetic varieties.
CONCLUSION
This experiment showed that sunflower can have a good production at the location where farmers
may grow sunflower for seeds and tourist attraction. In this study, synthetic varieties gavecomparable seed yield as hybrid varieties but their oil contents were lower. However, theadvantages of synthetic varieties are that farmers can continuously produce their own seeds for the
next planting without having to buy expensive imported hybrid seeds. This experiment showed thatS471 can be used for further planting, although it is too early to recommend at this stage. The
responses of sunflower to input levels were found for all characters. All characters, except oilcontent, increase when increasing input level. However, the high net income may be obtained fromcertain varieties grown under the low input level.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to thank the Chaipattana-Mae Fah Luang Reforestation Project, Prachuap Khiri
Khan, Thailand, for providing the field for experiment. This work was financially supported by theChaipattana foundation, Thailand.
REFERENCES
Kaewmeechai, S., Pudhanon, P.and Dangpradub, S. 1989. Sunflower breeding: line performance testing.
Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technology Research (TISTR) Report for Oilseed Crops
Development Project, 79-86.
Laosuwan, P. 1997. Sunflower production and research in Thailand. Suranaree J. Sci. Technol, 4, 159-167.
Laosuwan, P. and Macartney, J.C. 1992. On-farm research methology for extension. A Case Study fromOilseed Crops. EC-TISTR Oilseed Crops Development Project. Thailand Institute of Scientific andTechnological Research, Bangkok, Thailand.
Satjawattana, K. 2001. The development and yield trials of synthetic varieties of sunflower. Master degree
dissertation, Institute of Agricultural Technology, Suranaee University of Technology.

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