Times of sowing sunflower 'off season', in succession to sunflower in the cerrado tocantinense

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is considered a culture of great plasticity, has important characteristics liketolerance to different abiotic factors, drought and extreme temperatures. In that context the culture becomesfavorable to the safrinha, in with direct sowing optimizes the use of the earth, machines, labour and creation of jobsin the producing region. The objective of this study was to evaluate cultivars of sunflower (Hélio 250 - H250, Hélio251 - H251, Hélio 358 - H358, Hélio 360 - H360 e Hélio 884 - H884) in four sowing times (EP1 -15/03/2009; EP2 -28/03/2009; EP3 - 09/04/2009 e EP4 - 01/05/2009) direct on sunflower straw, safrinha 2009, in Gurupi, South partof the State of Tocantins. The experimental design was randomized blocks in factorial scheme 4x5 (sowing time xcultivars) with three repetitions. There was significant interaction between sowing times and cultivars for all traits.There was reduction in all traits with retardation of the sowing. Highest productivity of achenes was obtained whensunflower was grown in the second sowing time. The cultivar H884 had the best performance for most of theanalyzed variables at different times of sowing.