This research aimed to evaluate different irrigation regimes with the drip irrigation method on the sunflower’s oil content and fatty acid quality in the 2018 and 2019 growing seasons, in the Turkish region Thrace. Irrigation water was applied based on the ratio of Class A pan evaporation (kcp:0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00 and 1.25) with 7-day intervals. The sunflower’s seasonal evapotranspiration varied between 375.2 and 655.0 mm in 2018 and between 278.2 and 801.3 mm in 2019, depending on the amount of irrigation water applied. The highest seed yield was obtained as 5.04 t ha-1 in the first year and 5.19 t ha-1 in the second year where 125% of the open water surface evaporation value was applied. Water use efficiency (WUE) values ranged between 0.68 and 0.83 kg m-3 in the first year of the experiment, and between 0.64 and 0.80 kg m-3 in the second year of the experiment. The oil content obtained from the treatments varied between 38.93% and 41.17% in 2018 and between 39.36% and 41.81%. Unsaturated fatty acid (oleic, linoleic, linolenic and the other unsaturated fatty acids (UFA)) and saturated fatty acid (palmitic, stearic, and other saturated fatty acids (SFA)) were evaluated in the research. The oleic acid content was between 48.12% and 49.99% in 2018 and between 40.30% and 41.83% in 2019. The linoleic acid content varied between 41.47% and 43.66% in the first year and between 47.71% and 49.53% in the second year. In the first year, the oleic and linoleic acid results were significant at the 5% level. The second year’s results were found to be insignificant. In general, there were no statistical differences between the irrigation regimes in the oil content and fatty acid quality determined for the sunflower. The different irrigation regimes did not affect the oil content and fatty acid quality of the sunflower. In conditions where the water supply is sufficient, I5 or I6 treatments can be recommended, providing the highest seed yield.

27.3.2022