Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Finally, the creation of a high-oleic acid sunflower mutant (Soldatov
1976) was another significant advance that provided a new tool for breeders
to create variation in the unsaturated fatty acid composition of sunflower
oil. This new genetic resource has increased the versatility of sunflower oil
for both food and industrial applications.
The quantum leaps in technological advancements in sunflower
breeding during the past half century are less publicized, yet are highly
significant with regard to the progress in sunflower improvement. Breeding
for disease resistance became a priority, and resistance genes for several
serious diseases were identified in the cultivated germplasm and
incorporated into hybrids. In addition, the wild sunflower species were
proven to be significant sources of important genes for herbicide tolerance
and for resistance to evolving races of fungal and parasitic diseases.
It is reasonable to expect similar progress in sunflower improvement in
the next decades. The future of the cultivated oilseed sunflower crop will be
shaped by many fluid forces, including market dynamics, germplasm
enhancement, genomics, new uses of sunflower oil, new products from the
sunflower plant, and environmental concerns. The following sections
explore potential changes, including opportunities and obstacles, in the
continuing evolution of sunflower production and utilization in the
approaching decade.
10.2 Future Potential to Increase Productivity
During the past decade, sunflower production in several countries has
migrated from regions of adequate rainfall and fertile soil to less productive
areas where water and fertility restrict yield. In China, there was a recent
shift from the major production areas of the northeastern provinces to the
northern and western semiarid and arid provinces of Inner Mongolia and
Xinjiang. Argentina also saw a decline in sunflower production area during
the past decade, from more than 4 million ha in 1998 to less than 2 million
ha in 2005 (Vasquez and de Romano 2006). Favorable profits for maize and
soybean, coupled with ease of cultivation and pest protection of these two
GMO crops, helped to displace sunflower to regions of inferior soils.
Although hybrids improved during this transition, the end result of the
shift in production areas was static yields.
The situation in the US parallels China and Argentina, in which the
current areas of sunflower production are removed from the original regions
where open-pollinated sunflower was introduced to farmers in the 1960s.
However, there has been an overall trend towards increased yields in the
US despite the shift in production regions. Hybrid sunflower was introduced
in the US in the early 1970s, with the potential to increase yield through
heterotic effects of genetically distant parental lines. Figure 10-1 shows the
 
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