Sakata Seed has developed the world’s first downy mildew resistance ornamental cut flower Helianthus, and this spring will run large-scale trials of this new innovation in Europe’s main production area.
Downy Mildew is a serious threat in Helianthus production. When the crop is affected, a yellowish green lesion is visible on the leaves. If symptoms get worse, the stock will shrink and cannot reach sufficient plant height, resulting in production losses. In recent years, downy mildew damage is becoming a more serious problem for both oilseed and ornamental cut flower Helianthus production in Europe. In the Dutch fields, where downy mildew damage has been severe, worst-case scenarios have resulted in the loss of over 50% of plants. Therefore thorough disease control is a serious business. It is a costly process, but taken seriously because the costs of the disease are also highly significant.
The answer to the issue of disease control is clearly a mildew resistant variety. Sakata is the first breeder to develop an innovative new variety of ornamental Helianthus that solves these problems. The variety is easy to grow and can produce high quality cut flowers. Resistance trials were held in a public experimental station in 2013 in Heidelberg, Germany and also at our Kakegawa research station in Japan. Both came out with proof that Sakata’s new variety has a strong resistance to downy mildew.
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