Effect Of Envi~Onmental Factor On The Seed,Yleld And Oil Content Of Sunflower (Helianthus Annuusl.)

ABSTRACT

Sunflower (He!ianthus annuusL.) occupies the fourth position among vegetable oilseeds after

soybean, oil palm and canola in the world.A field experiment was conducted on a farm in Ado

Ekiti South-West Nigeria (Latitude7' 37'23 N and longitude 5' 13' l 5E with l 440 ft above sea

level) between December 2017 and April 2018 to evaluate the performance of two Sunflower

varieties (SAMSUN I and SAMSUN 2) as affected by the geographical location and abiotic

factors. Soil analysis was carried out on the soil used in planting the Sunflower seeds. Proximate

analysis was also carried out on the seeds.Oil was extracted from the seeds using a soxhlet

apparatus with n-hexane as the extraction solvent. The result from the soil analysis showed 5 as

the soilrH and l as the soil nitrogen. During the vegetative stage, 61 cm was recorded as the

highest plant height for SAMSUN I and 46cm was recorded as the highest plant height for

SAMSUN 2. The number of leaves for SAMS UN I was 28 and 24 for SAMSUN 2 after 84days

of planting. 1.8cm was recorded as the final stem diameter for SAMSUN I and 1.6cm for

SAMSUN 2. Harvesting of seeds was catTied out after 124 days of planting and the seed yield

was 3.74kg and 2.96kgfor SAMSUN l and SAMSUN 2 respectively. Proximate analysis on the

seeds showed that SAMSUN 1 contain 5.88% moisture,1.58% ash, 7.10% crude protein, 3.35%

fat and 3.35% crude fibre% while SAMSUN 2 contain 4.37% moisture, 2.05% ash, 6.45% crude

protein, 4.16% fat and 4.16% crude fibre. 400ml and 460ml of sunflower oil were recorded for

the two varieties. The oil analysis showed that SAMSUN I contain 5.37% moisture, 0.74% ash

and 11.91% crude protein and SAMSUM 2 contain 7.12% moisture,- 0.72% ash and 13.93%

crude protein. The result of the experiment was compared with that from thenorthern region of

Nigeria where it is predominately cultivated. It can be concluded after the whole experiment that sunflower will give more yield and oil in the northern region of Nigeria.