Abstract
Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production, encounters sustainability challenges in its cultivation. This study assesses the effects of incorporating a winter cover crop (CC), Avena sativa (L.), on the subsequent growth of sunflower crops and the vitality of their rhizosphere microbial communities over a two-year period. It examines the impact of two methods for suppressing winter CC—chemical suppression using glyphosate and mechanical suppression via rolling—both with and without the addition of phosphorus (P) starter fertilizer. These approaches are evaluated in comparison to the regional best management practices for sunflower cultivation, which involve a preparatory chemical fallow period and the subsequent application of starter P fertilizer. The methodology utilized Illumina sequencing for the analysis of rhizosphere bacterial 16S rRNA genes and fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) amplicons. Findings indicate a significant improvement (9–37%) in sunflower growth parameters (plant height, stem diameter, head diameter, and head dry weight) when cultivated after glyphosate-suppressed winter CC compared to the chemical fallows. Conversely, rolling of winter CC generally negatively affected sunflower growth. Rhizosphere bacterial communities following chemical suppression of winter CC showed greater Pielou’s evenness, indicating a uniform distribution of species. In general, this treatment had more detrimental effects on beneficial sunflower rhizosphere bacteria such as Hymenobacter and Pseudarthrobacter than rolling of the winter CC, suggesting that the overall effect on sunflower growth may be mitigated by the redundancy within the bacterial community. As for fungal diversity, measured by the Chao-1 index, it increased in sunflowers planted after winter CC and receiving P fertilization, underscoring nutrient management’s role in microbial community structure. Significant positive correlations between fungal diversity and sunflower growth parameters at the reproductive stage were observed ( r = 0.41–0.72; p < 0.05), highlighting the role of fungal communities in plant fitness. The study underscores the positive effects of winter CC inclusion and management for enhancing sunflower cultivation while promoting beneficial microbes in the crop’s rhizosphere. We advocate for strategic winter CC species selection, optimization of mechanical suppression techniques, and tailored phosphorus fertilization of sunflower to foster sustainable agriculture.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Sunflower grown after glyphosate-suppressed winter cover crop had 9–37% greater growth parameters than after chemical fallow.
- Taxon
- Helianthus annuus
Helianthus annuuse0 - Treatment
- glyphosate-suppressed winter CCe1
- Outcome
- sunflower growth parameterse1
- Direction
- improvemente1
- Value
- 9–37%e1
- Comparator
- chemical fallowse1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production”
e1“Findings indicate a significant improvement (9–37%) in sunflower growth parameters (plant height, stem diameter, head diameter, and head dry weight) when cultivated after glyphosate-suppressed winter CC compared to the chemical fallows”
Claim · model-written summary
Rolling of winter cover crop generally negatively affected sunflower growth.
- Taxon
- Helianthus annuusHelianthus annuuse0
- Treatment
- rolling of winter CCe2
- Outcome
- sunflower growthe2
- Direction
- negatively affectede2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production”
e2“Conversely, rolling of winter CC generally negatively affected sunflower growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Rhizosphere bacterial communities after chemical suppression of winter cover crop had greater Pielou’s evenness.
- Taxon
- Helianthus annuusHelianthus annuuse0
- Treatment
- chemical suppression of winter CCe3
- Outcome
- Pielou’s evennesse3
- Direction
- greatere3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production”
e3“Rhizosphere bacterial communities following chemical suppression of winter CC showed greater Pielou’s evenness, indicating a uniform distribution of species”
Claim · model-written summary
Chemical suppression of winter cover crop had more detrimental effects on beneficial sunflower rhizosphere bacteria than rolling.
- Taxon
- Helianthus annuusHelianthus annuuse0
- Treatment
- chemical suppression of winter CCe3
- Outcome
- beneficial sunflower rhizosphere bacteriae4
- Direction
- more detrimental effectse4
- Qualifier
- such as Hymenobacter and Pseudarthrobactere4
- Comparator
- rolling of the winter CCe4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production”
e3“Rhizosphere bacterial communities following chemical suppression of winter CC showed greater Pielou’s evenness, indicating a uniform distribution of species”
e4“In general, this treatment had more detrimental effects on beneficial sunflower rhizosphere bacteria such as Hymenobacter and Pseudarthrobacter than rolling of the winter CC”
Claim · model-written summary
The overall effect on sunflower growth may be mitigated by redundancy within the bacterial community.
- Taxon
- Helianthus annuusHelianthus annuuse0
- Outcome
- overall effect on sunflower growthe5
- Qualifier
- redundancy within the bacterial communitye5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production”
e5“suggesting that the overall effect on sunflower growth may be mitigated by the redundancy within the bacterial community”
Claim · model-written summary
Fungal diversity increased in sunflowers planted after winter cover crop and receiving P fertilization.
- Taxon
- Helianthus annuusHelianthus annuuse0
- Treatment
- receiving P fertilizatione6
- Outcome
- fungal diversitye6
- Direction
- increasede6
- Qualifier
- measured by the Chao-1 indexe6
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production”
e6“As for fungal diversity, measured by the Chao-1 index, it increased in sunflowers planted after winter CC and receiving P fertilization”
Claim · model-written summary
Fungal diversity was positively correlated with sunflower growth parameters at the reproductive stage.
- Taxon
- Helianthus annuusHelianthus annuuse0
- Organ / stage
- reproductive stagee7
- Outcome
- sunflower growth parameterse7
- Direction
- positive correlationse7
- Value
- r = 0.41–0.72e7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production”
e7“Significant positive correlations between fungal diversity and sunflower growth parameters at the reproductive stage were observed ( r = 0.41–0.72; p < 0.05)”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend strategic winter cover crop species selection for sunflower cultivation.
- Taxon
- Helianthus annuusHelianthus annuuse0
- Outcome
- strategic winter CC species selectione1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), a vital crop for global vegetable oil production”
e1“We advocate for strategic winter CC species selection, optimization of mechanical suppression techniques, and tailored phosphorus fertilization of sunflower”
The same questions in other papers
cover crop · growth · Helianthus annuus (common sunflower)Positive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- negative
- positive
- positive
fertilization · soil: biology · Helianthus annuus (common sunflower)Results agree
4 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.