Title : The effect of climatic changes – hail and storm on sunflower hybrids – constanta county, dobrogea area, Romania
Abstract:
Constanta County had the largest area cultivated with sunflower crop in Dobrogea region in South-Eat Romania in 2019 (23%), 2020 (20.8%), and 2021 (23.4%). Dobrogea is the most drought area in Romania (average rainfall of 464 mm in the period 1961-1990) and the year 2020 was one of the driest year, with rainfall of 348.5 mm. Sometimes, in this region is possible to have extremely climatic dangerous factors, such as hail and storm. This was happening in the year 2021, when twenty-three sunflower hybrids in a field experiment of S.C. SPORT AGRA S.RL. in Amzacea Village, Constanta County from Dobrogea region (South-East of Romania) were damaged in 2021, June 12th, by a rainfall with hail and storm, this registering in 35 minutes 71 mm rainfall, the sunflower plants having 12-14 leaves. Thus, the aim of this study is i) to see the behavior of the sunflower hybrids in the unbelievable hail and storm conditions, ii) to find out the yield and the tolerance to hail storm the hybrids have, iii) and to know how the sunflower hybrids behavior to the main pathogens under such severe conditions. The results of the performed research are showing that there are sunflower hybrids that tolerate the hail storm, this being able to realize good yields even under such severe conditions.
Keywords: sunflower, hybrids, hail and storm, tolerance, grain yield