The dependence of the economically valuable characteristics of sunflower from climatic conditions of the Central Black Earth region

Annually sunflower is sown on an area about 400,000 hectares in the agricultural cooperatives of the Tambov region. The average yield of the crop varies greatly by years - from 9.4 to 20.5 t per ha, depending on the prevailing weather conditions. Such unstable yields were a reason to study influence of agricultural and climatic conditions on yield and other economically valuable traits of sunflower. The researches were conducted in the Tambov Agricultural Research Institute in 2010-2018. Our results showed that sharp deviations from long-term indicators were revealed only in 2010: the lowest yield (14.4 quintal per ha), oil content (42.4%), weight of 1000 seeds (46.0 g), volume weight (344.4 g per liter), the highest huskiness (27%) and shortened vegetative period (86 days). This 2010 year was characterized with severe drought, during the growing season there was only 81.2 mm of precipitation (the average annual rate - 182.3 mm). A relatively stable indicators for the years of research (excluding 2010) in the variety Spartak were huskiness (within 20...