PRODUCTIVITY OF SOME SUNFLOWER HYBRIDS - COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS.

The study comparatively analyzed the productivity level of 48 commercial sunflower hybrids, under the specific crops conditions of the Western Plain of Romania. The field experiment took place within ARDS Lovrin, agricultural year 2021-2022. 27 hybrids from the Imazamox class (IH; IH1 to IH27) and 21 hybrids from the Tribenuron Methyl class (TMH; TMH1 to TMH21) were cultivated. The cultivation of the 48 hybrids was carried out under the conditions of a chernozem type soil, and non-irrigated system. In the case of Imazamox class hybrids (IH), the production varied between 2012.47 kg ha-1 (IH4) and 3,545.08 kg ha-1 (IH1, and IH23). In the case of hybrids from the Tribenuron Methyl class (TMH), production varied between 2,437.64 kg ha-1 (TMH17) and 3,713.15 kg ha-1 (TMH4, and TMH19). Based on the production data recorded for each hybrid, the average value was calculated for each class of hybrids (IH-Avg=3,038.13 kg ha-1, TMH-Avg=3,287.98 kg ha-1). In order to verify whether there are differences between the two groups IH (N=27) and TMH (N=21) regarding the recorded production, the Null Hypothesis (H0) was defined. The application of the t-test for Equality of Means, led to the value of t=2.302 with p=0.02. Additionally, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was applied. The U=180 value with p=0.03 also indicated significantly different productions between the related series of the two classes of hybrids. The increase in production (kg ha-1, %) was calculated for each class of hybrids (ΔIH, ΔTMH) and a classification was made within each class. The cluster analysis facilitated the clustering of sunflower hybrids in relation to the recorded production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]