Sunflower Rust

Abstract

Altho the sunflower has been growa for a long time in this country for ornamental purposes, it is only recently that the economic value of the plant itself has been recognized. The seed is important as a source of a highly prized edible oil and of an oil cake rich in nitrogenous matter. Preliminary tests in Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, and Michigan have established also the desirability of sunflower silage and indicate a wide range of usefulness for it. Because of this the sunflower seems destined to achieve its chief significance in this country as an ensilage crop in those northern states and in adjoining parts of Canada where corn cart not be grown to advantage. Several serious diseases of the crop, however, have appeared. One of the most destructive of these is the sunflower rust. This disease occurs commonly throughout the region in which sunflowers promise to be most extensively cultivated, and under favorable conditions it causes serious damage through defoliation. For this reason rust may prove a limiting factor in the use of sunflowers unless some satisfactory means of control can be developed.