Why irrigate sunflowers, a crop known for its drought tolerance?

The sunflower is a crop known for its drought tolerance, but it responds well to small amounts of water applied around the time of flowering. Through experimentation and modelling, it has been shown that 100 mm of irrigation water can increase yield by 5 to 15 q/ha, depending on soil type and climatic conditions. Oil content also benefits from the maintenance of the active leaf area made possible by supplementary irrigation. Whilst less than 5 per cent of sunflower acreage is currently irrigated, this proportion could rise as water resources become scarcer, as sunflowers require only a small volume of irrigation. To support this practice, decision-making guidelines and their implementation (modelling, remote sensing) should be improved, and their dissemination facilitated through collective alerts.