Future Prospects - Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Crop Plants - page 324

public acceptance of transgenic sunflower because sunflower products are
primarily for human consumption—sunflower oil is a premium healthy
vegetable oil for home cooking and food processing, and confection
sunflower is a snack food. The second is the concern about genetic pollution
(Rifkin 1998) which is currently defined as the “uncontrolled spread of
genetic information (frequently referring to transgenes) into the genomes of
organisms in which such genes are not present in nature” (Zaid et al. 2001).
Sunflower is one of the few crops that originated and was domesticated in
North America and can hybridize freely with its abundant wild relatives.
As transgenic crops have become more widespread, these concerns have
become less worrisome. The real challenge for commercialization of
transgenic sunflower is the lack of a superior transgenic line which
overcomes the limiting factors for sunflower production. The continued in-
depth investigation into sunflower genomics will yield unprecedented
insights into basic mechanisms of sunflower development, tolerance to biotic
and abiotic stresses, and other metabolic processes related to productivity.
The translation of these new insights into applications is anticipated to
result in superior sunflowers.
The advances in sunflower genomics have an enormous impact on the
genetic improvement of the sunflower crop. Together with the conserved
diverse germplasm collection, the available and yet-to-come genomics tools
will enable sunflower researchers to effectively and efficiently shape
sunflower as a competitive agricultural crop to meet the needs of mankind.
10.4 Future Potential to Expand into Other Geographical
Areas
Many developing countries have the potential to increase sunflower
production. Considering Pakistan as one example, one observes a country
where consumers prefer sunflower oil for cooking, while 70% of the country's
total vegetable oil is imported. Yet despite Pakistan's inability to meet its
domestic demand for sunflower and other vegetable oils, the sunflower
production area in 2002-03 decreased by 25% from its peak in 1998-99. In
a report that recognized the potential of sunflower oil to contribute to the
increased domestic production of vegetable oil (Shah et al. 2005), proposals
were made to increase production by: 1) expanding sunflower oilseed
cultivation into regions which previously did not grow sunflower, 2)
providing government support prices, and 3) enhancing research to target a
three-fold yield increase by adopting improved cultural practices and
developing higher yielding varieties and hybrids. Progress toward these
goals was apparently made, as national agricultural statistics indicate that
the area of production had increased from 264,000 ha in 2004-05 to 397,000
ha in 2007-08 (Pakistan Federal Bureau of Statistics 2008). Several regions