Improving farming of sunflower crops in the Western Kazakhstan

Sunflower production is very actual in conditions of the western Kazakhstan which is characterized with good heat provision and a prolonged vegetative period. The recent years the sowing areas under sunflower exceeded 50.000 ha, however, yield of oil seeds is still not so high (0.75-1.05 t per ha). In this regard, working out of adaptive technologies of sunflower cultivation is of high importance to increase sunflower productivity and sowing areas. Jointly with introduction of highly productive varieties and hybrids, an important reserve of sunflower seed yield increase is perfectibility of agricultural techniques, especially practices of crop farming. The purpose of our research is to study practices of crop tending and develop elements of adaptive cultivation technologies for sunflower productivity increase. The researches were conducted in first dry-steppe zone of the Western-Kazakhstan region in 2018-2019. Application of a herbicide Roundup five days before planting in a rate of 2 liter per ha appeared to be quite reasonable to control weeds in sunflower fields. The highest seed yield (2.97 t per ha), oil yield (1.34 t per ha) and oil content in seeds (50.1%) of sunflower were obtained under soil harrowing combined with before-sowing cultivation and application of the herbicide Roundup.