Encouraging Progress With Rust-Resistant Confections— USDA Releasing Three New Lines in 2013 —

摘要

As many confection sunflower growers know all too well, the level of rust resistance in confection hybrids has lagged below that available in oil-type hybrids. Widely effective sources of resistance to sunflower rust have proven elusivethrough the years, requiring confection producers to rely on fungicide treatments for management of this disease.There's good news on the horizon, however. Research being conducted at the USDA-ARS Sunflower and Plant BiologyResearch Unit at Fargo, N.D., should result in the release — sometime in 2013 — of confection lines that carry good resistance to sunflower rust. The research project has been partially funded by the National Sunflower Association and the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program administered by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture.