Excess Moisture Effects on Sunflower Production
Bifrost Agricultural Sustainability Initiative Cooperative (BASIC)
To determine excess moisture effects on Sunflower phenology and yield.
Overall, the irrigated sunflowers maturated faster and yielded higher in comparison to when grown without irrigation. Looking back on the 2017 growing season, overall temperatures were above normal and the season were drier than normal. This might have attributed to better performance of Sunflowers under excess moisture conditions. More research is needed to back up the findings.
Sunflowers have tendency to keep root system shallow when grown in excess moisture. Shallow roots may not able to access nutrients once the soils begin to dry. Effect of excess moisture on sunflower yield and disease incidence is largely unknown.