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Helianthus annuus

AuthorityL.
FamilyMagnoliopsida:Asteridae:Asterales:Compositae
Synonyms
Common namesauringonkukka, cut-and-come-again, girasol, girasole, girassol, Helianthi flos, Italian girasole, sonneblom, Sonnenblume, sunflower, surajmukhi, surya mukhi, tournesol, xiangrikui, zonnebloem
Editor
Ecocrop code1191



Notes
DESCRIPTION: An erect, hirsute herb ranging from less than 1 m to more than 3.5 m in height, with a large flower head 10-30 cm in diameter. It has a strong taproot reaching a length of up to 3 m. USES: The seeds can be eaten fresh, roasted, or cooked and they can be extracted for oil. The oil is used for cooking, in the salad oil industry and for lighting. The expressed oil cake can be fed to livestock. Seeds have also been roasted and used as a substitute for coffee. Plant leaves are used as fodder and they have been used as a substitute for tobacco and for the manufacture of writing paper. A fiber is obtained from the stem. The flowers yield a yellow dye. Parts of the plant have medicinal properties. KILLING T.: Subtropical varieties can stand -6 to -10°C at two-leaf stage but the plant is sensitive to frost at all other stages of growth. GROWING PERIOD: Annual herb, can be harvested from 90-160 days or from 70-200 days. COMMON NAMES: sunflower, tournesol, soleil, girasol, mirasol, sonnenblume. FURTHER INF.: Sunflower is thought to be indigenous to the western United States and the central highlands of Mexico. Sunflowers can be grown between 40°S and 55°N, but greatest production is between latitudes 20-50°N and 20-40°S and it can be grown at elevations up to 2600 m in the tropics, but best below 1500 m. It is generally shallow-rooted, though the giant types can reach as deep as 2.5 m. It can reach a height of 0.5 m to 3 or even 5 m depending on cultivar and cultural conditions. Photosynthesis pathway C 3 II. The crop prefers low to moderate humidity, and excessive rain during early and late crop stages encourages diseases. Many sunflower varieties are open-pollinated with bees usually being the main agents, and to ensure high seed set there must be a high insect population. The average yield of sunflower seed in the world is around 1.4 t/ha, in Africa it is about 0.9 t/ha. Yields of 2-5 t/ha can be obtained.
Sources
Purseglove J 1974 pp 68-73 [RAIN, TEXT, DEP, DRA, PH]
Sims D (pers. comm.)
Roecklein J 1987 pp 353 [USE, LIG, RAIN, TEXT]
Hartmann T 1981 pp 513-514 [USE]
Rhem S 1991 pp 102-103 [RAIN, DEP, TEXT, FER, PH]
Maas E 1990 pp 272
Doorenbos J 1979 pp 150
Dube P 1982 pp 11
Landon J 1984 pp 281 286 288 291 [TEXT, DRA, DEP, PH, FER, SAL]
Eswaran H 1986
Weiss E 1983 pp 402-462 [DEP, PHO, KTMP, TEMP, RAIN, TEXT, DRA, PH, SAL, FER]
Van Waveren E 1993 pp 40
Onwueme I 1991 pp 349-354 [KTMP, TEXT, DEP, DRA, PH, SAL]
Langer R 1991 pp 155
Lovett J 1979 pp 137-160 [USE, TEMP, KTMP, RAIN, TEXT, SAL, DRA, PHO]