The Effect of the Energy Crop 'Helianthus Annuus L.' to Soil Quality Improvement

Abstract

The objective of this work had two scopes. First of all to investigate the effect of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cultivation to soil quality improvement and secondly to investigate the effect of a zeolite-bentonite 3:1 mix soil improvement to its growth. For this purpose, a greenhouse pot experiment was established in central Greece (city of Volos). 24 pots contained 1 kg of peat each; were prepared receiving NO3-N up to a concentration of 44 ppm. In the half pots, a zeolite-bentonite 3:1 mix was added (total 10 gr per pot). Sunflower was sown on July 20, and a three level of ammonium nitrate nutrient solution was supplied to correspond to N dressings of 0, 80 and 200 kg N/ha. During the harvest date (56 days after the emergence) the average sunflower height and dry weight to the pots where were not included the zeolite-bentonite mix was 87.1 cm and 5.9 gr, respectively. On the other hand, the average sunflower height and dry weight to the pots with the zeolite-bentonite mix which was included was 80.2 cm and 5.8 gr, respectively. Sunflower was to the stage of flowering in every treatment. Nitrogen uptake was 432.2 mg/kg biomass (134.7, 288.1, 9.3 and 0.1 mg/kg per leaves, stems, flowers and roots respectively). The conclusions of all the above are firstly that sunflower can be a soil improvement cultivation with high NO3 -N adsorption rate and secondly that the zeolite-bentonite mix has a reductive effect to plant growth.