Year: 2026 | Month: June | Volume 13 | Issue 1

Effect of Phosphorus Management and Mulching on the Growth and Yield of Sunflower in Coastal Saline Areas of South 24 Parganas

Shobhanika Barik Tanuj Kumar Mandal* Saumi Goswami and Antara Pramanik
DOI:10.30954/2347-9655.01.2026.3

Abstract :

Sunflower is an important crop of the coastal part of South 24 Parganas due to its ability to thrive well in salinity-affected soil with low water requirements. But the yield of sunflower is very poor due to the non-availability of promising hybrids, lack of knowledge on phosphorus management and soil management practices to minimize soil salinity. Keeping those ideas in view, an experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm of The Neotia University, West Bengal, during rabi (winter), 2025, to study the effect of phosphorus and mulching on the growth and yield of sunflower in coastal saline areas. The experiment was laid out in split plot design replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of six main plot treatments, i.e. P0: No P2O5 (control), P1: 50% recommended dose of P2O5, P2: 75% recommended dose of P2O5, P3: 100% recommended dose of P2O5, P4: 50% recommended dose of P2O5 + seed inoculation with VAM, P5: 75% recommended dose of P2O5 + seed inoculation with VAM and 3 sub plot treatments M0: No mulching (Control), M1: Paddy straw mulching, M2: Plastic mulching. The hybrid considered for the study was DRSH-1. The results revealed that the treatment 75% recommended dose of P2O5 + seed inoculation with VAM recorded highest value in plant growth parameters, yield attributes and yield. Among, mulching, the plastic mulching outperformed straw mulching and control. The study concluded that the application of 75% recommended dose of phosphorus and seed inoculation with VAM under plastic mulching could be considered as the best practice to achieve higher growth and productivity of sunflower.

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