The effect of seed priming and different levels of nitrogen application on quantitative and qualitative yield of sunflower progress cultivar

In order toinvestigate the effect of seed primingat different levels of nitrogen application on yield and yield components of progress cultivar of sunflower, the present experiment was conducted in Shahrood Agriculture Research Station Center in 2010. The experiment was in the form of split plots based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Nitrogen fertilizer at main plotsin three levels of (60, 90 and 120 kilogram per hectare) and of seed priming treatment at sub plots in four levels (Control non primming, smopriming with potassium nitrate, hydro priming with net watwer and polyethylene glycol) was applied. Results showed that yield, yield components and the rest of studies traites were affected by nitrogen fertilizer and priming treatments and their interaction, as the traites of one-thousand seed weight, seed kernel percentage and yield significantly incresed by nitrogrn fertilizer incresing and treatment 120 kilogram nitrogen per hectare treatment was superior at the traits of one-thousand seed weight, seed kernel percentage and oil yield compered to 60 kilogram nitrogen per hectare treatment but, with 90 kilogram nitrogen per hectare treatmenthad no significant difference except for the trait seed kernel percentage. Priming, trait of one-thousand seed weight, seed kernel percentage and oil yield was significant. Osmopriming with potassium nitrate by average one-thousand seed weight 60.11 gram, seed kernel percentage 74.5 and oil yield 1614 kilogram had superiority compared to the other treatments of seed and osmopriming with produced maximum 1000 seed weight and polyethylene glycol was recognized as the best treatment after potassium nitrate.The interaction of nitrogen fertilizer and seed primingfor the traits of head diameter, seed number in head, grain yield, biological yield, harvest index and oil yield was significant and results showed that the highest grain yield was obtained of polethylene glycol treatment at the fertilizer level of 120 kilogram nitrogen per hectare.