Oct 11, 2016

Sakata Releases New Sunflower Variety

Sakata Seed America recently introduced a new sunflower variety with downy mildew resistance (DMR).

Vincent’s Choice Deep Orange DMR sunflower addresses the issue of downy mildew and the detrimental effect the disease has on crop yield and plant quality.

A new addition to the Vincent series developed by Sakata in 2009, Vincent’s Choice Deep Orange DMR is easy to grow and produces an abundance of high quality cut flowers, according to Sakata. It has a deep orange color and a bit more pointed petal form than the other varieties in the series: Vincent’s Choice and Vincent’s Fresh. Best of all, it is resistant to most of more than 10 races of downy mildew that currently affect sunflower, according to the company.

DMR, or Downy Mildew Resistant, allows this new variety to avoid the risk of lower yield from downy mildew which occurs especially under high humidity and 59-77° F (15-25°C) conditions, according to Sakata.

“This is a major breakthrough for the industry, but particularly for growers. With the onset of downy mildew as a major production issue came solutions like spraying chemicals, and the cost of labor and spraying machines associated with doing so. All of which come at a huge cost to the grower. This is a huge win for sunflower cut flower production!” said Jamie Kitz, key account manager.