Zero Tilled Dibbled Sunflower Enables Planting Earlier and Harvests More in the Coastal Saline Area of Bangladesh

Abstract

Only transplanted Aman (T. Aman) rice is one of the major cropping sequences in the medium saline, irrigation water lacking area of the coastal Bangladesh which requires suitable succeeding crop with early planting in moist soil and to escape damage from the effect of storm surges and water logging due to rainfall in May. A field trial was conducted in 2012 to compare the early dibbled sunflowers in zero tilled soil with traditional tilled one after T. Aman rice. Sunflower was planted on four dates, 14 January (zero tillage in moist soil), 22 and 29 February and 5 March (tilled field at field capacity). Results indicated that dibbling on 14 January produced significantly taller plant, larger head and higher seed yield (3.06 t ha -1 ) than those of other planting dates (2.54 to 2.68 t ha -1 ). The farmers' led validation of zero tilled dibbled sunflowers in the following year confirmed its earlier planting and higher productivity.