STATE AND PROSPECTS OF SUNFLOWER PRODUCTION IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is among the three most significant oilseedplants in the world (along with, soybean and rapeseed) and one of the two mostproduced oil crops in the European Union, together with rapeseed. Over the pastdecade, Ukraine has maintained its position as leading producer and exporter ofsunflower seeds and ranks first for sunflower oil consumption globally. A recentUnited States Department of Agriculture report in 2017 suggest that, Ukrainepresently (2015−2016) ranks first in sunflower production globally with a 29.3 %share of total world sunflower output of 40.57 million metric tons. Respectively,Russia and the European Union are currently ranked second and third, with a shareof 22.6 % and 18.9 %, followed by Argentina and China that produced 6.7 % each.The main goal in sunflower breeding is to create hybrids with high geneticpotential for seed yield above 5 t/ha, but environmental factors seems to limitcurrent sunflower yields to the production range of 1.5–3.0 t/ha. In this study,however, we report new sunflower varieties and hybrids in Ukraine that yield evenslightly above 3 t/ha. Thus, a unique sunflower production technology for theforest-steppe of Ukraine for instance now provides sunflower seed yields of 2.9-3.5t/ha. This became possible after the introduction of new high-yielding varieties andhybrids, and the improvement of sunflower cultivation technologies for specificnatural and climatic zones. Hence, further increases in global sunflower seedsoutput mainly from Ukraine are expected without expansions in limited agriculturallands.