Challenges in Precision Sunflower Cultivation: The Impact of the Agronomic Environment on the Quality of Precision Sowing Techniques and Yield Parameters

Precision agriculture and advanced sowing technologies, including variable sowing rates, can be used to optimise sunflower yields by ensuring a uniform plant distribution, efficient resource utilisation, and adaptation to soil variability. These agronomic and technological innovations help mitigate field heterogeneity effects, enhancing sunflower establishment, growth, and overall yield stability. The main goal of this research was to analyse the interactions among management, soil, and environmental variables and their effects on the sowing quality and yield in the case of precision sunflower production. A sowing field experiment was set up in the period between 2021 and 2023 to identify these effects and their complex interactions, which were evaluated with the aim of improving the sowing and yield parameters, while also understanding the importance of each different parameter. As a key outcome for precision sowing, this research demonstrates that the variability in sowing parameters—such as double and missing sowing rates, as well as sowing uniformity—was significantly influenced by the field conditions, productivity zones, and nominal crop density. These findings underscore the importance of implementing site-specific management strategies to optimise sunflower production and maximise yields. Overall, of the various factors influencing sunflower production, the crop year proved to be more significant than the soil parameters due to the strong influence of annual climatic variability. The field zone was also identified as a more critical determinant of sowing and yield variability than crop density, highlighting the importance of spatial management within fields, and also marking possible directions for future research.