The seeds physiological quality and sowing density influenced the plants establishment and growth during the plant vegetative cycle. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of achenes vigour and sowing density on the sunflower plants growth. An experiment was installed in the field, with three lots of sunflower achenes, cultivar 'Embrapa 122 V2000' and two sowing densities of 45,000 and 75,000 seeds ha-1, with row spacing of 0.7m were studied. The harvests were realized at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 days after sowing (DAS) and were evaluated for leaf area and total dry matter. Subsequently, the growth parameters were performed calculations. The results indicated that the planting of sunflower achenes with lower vigour, produces plants with less total dry matter and leaf area index at 80 and 100 days after sowing, which offers lower culture growth rate at the period from 60 to 100 days after sowing. At the density of 45,000 seeds ha-1, the plants produced more total dry matter and leaf area index at 40 and 60 days after sowing, which provides higher culture growth rates and relative growth rates from the period of 20 to 40 days after sowing.
Helianthus annuus L.; leaf area; growth rate; physiological quality
