IMPROVING SEED AND OIL YIELD OF SUNFLOWER (Helianthus annuus L.) BY USING DIFFERENT INTER AND INTRA ROW SPACE COMBINATIONS

The aim of this study was to determine the appropriate inter and intra row spacing of sunflower irrigated during the critical growing stages to obtain the highest seed and oil yields. The experiment was carried out with three replications in the randomized blocks with split plots design in 2016 and 2017. Inter row spacings (45 and 70 cm) were placed on the main plots and intra row spacings (20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 cm) were placed on the subplots. Bosfora, oilseed hybrid sunflower variety was used as plant material. It has been determined that inter and intra row spaces had statistically significant effects on sunflower development and yield parameters. In general, as the distance between the inter and intra rows narrowed, plant height was increased, while the stem and table diameters, the number of seeds in the table, thousand seed weight, oil rate and per plant yield were decreased. And also seed and oil yield was increased, in contrast to per plant yield, due to the increase in plant number per unit area. Seed and oil yield with 45x25 cm inter and intra row spacings were 59.6% and 52.9% higher as compared to 70x40 cm spacing, respectively. The highest seed and oil yield was obtained from 45x25 cm inter and intra row space under irrigated conditions