Coating of Hulled Seeds Improved Field Plantability and Grain Yield of Extra‐Large Confectionary Sunflower Achenes

Abstract

Extra‐large (XL) hybrid confection sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) achenes are popular among snack food consumers, but these achenes perform poorly with precision planters; therefore, the option of planting coated seed from XL achenes was evaluated in this study. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the effect of various coating materials and buildup levels on live seed emergence, precision planting, stand establishment, and crop performance under field conditions. Based on the laboratory results on germination and plantability, four coating materials (polymer A, polymer B, zeolite, and lime) at 30 and 35% buildup levels were selected for the field trails at Prosper, ND. A separate smaller field study was conducted at Minot, ND, to verify the performance of coated seed under different growing conditions. At both Prosper and Minot locations, all the coated seed treatments resulted in significantly higher live seed emergence and grain yield than XL achenes. Live seed emergence of all the coated seed (93–99%) was significantly higher than the XL achenes (88%), and similar or higher than the large achenes (94%) at Prosper. Laboratory singulation of all the coated seed was superior to both XL achenes and large achenes, which contributed to uniform seed spacing in the field for the coated seed. Overall, this study showed that coating the hulled seeds substantially increased seed plantability and crop performance compared with XL achenes and even large achenes. A successful outcome of this study may extend this research to other sunflower seed sizes and possibly other crops.