MAKING THE UNKNOWN KNOWN ON SUNFLOWER PLANTS

ABOUT SUNFLOWER

 Sunflower belongs to the genus Halianthus with almost 70 different species and of the Asteraceae family. Sunflower is an annual plant with big flowering head often yellow in color, thick stem with alternate leaves which can grow as high as 16 feet and a tuberous root. Sunflower is native to America and can grow well in all countries with the full sun this is because it turns its flowers to follow the direction of the sun in the sky, a term known as Heliotropic. Due to its tough and remarkable nature, it can grow in any type of soils that is well-drained and rich in organic matter with slight acidity or alkalinity. Sunflowers are drought tolerant and they emit toxins that can inhibit the growth of some other plant.  They serve as a source of medicine, fiber, seeds, oil, and ornaments. However, there are two kinds of sunflower seeds, the Black seed, and Stripe seed; the black seed are for making oil while the striped seed is for making snacks.

TYPES OF SUNFLOWERS

There are several different species of sunflower and they vary in color, size, and height. However, based on these variations we can classify sunflower into three groups, these are;

·         Tall Sunflower

·         Dwarf Sunflower

·         Coloured Sunflower

TALL SUNFLOWER

This type of sunflowers have single stalk with a large brown center connecting to the yellow petals and can grow as high as 16 feet. They produce a high quantity of seeds in the center and they are Bird’s favorites. The following are the examples of sunflowers that belong to this group:

Skyscraper: its height ranges from 10-15 feet

American Giant: this sunflower can grow up to 15 feet

Russian Mammoth: this sunflower’s height ranges from 9-12 feet

Schweinitz’s Sunflower: this sunflower is the rarest species with an average height of 6.5 feet but, can grow up to 16 feet tall.

DWARF SUNFLOWER

With increased breeding to develop the sunflower that can give desirable yields, Dwarf sunflowers have been produced through hybridization. Dwarf Sunflowers can grow in bunches occupying less space compared to the Tall group and requires low maintenance operations. They can grow to a height of three feet and this has made it possible for them to be grown in gardens and greenhouses. Below are some examples of some species in this group;

Sundance Kid: its height ranges between one to two feet tall with its flowers having bicolor red and yellow petals.

Sundance kid

Little Becka: with an average height of about two feet tall, its flowers have bright orange and yellow petals. 

Little Becka

Pacino: also known as dwarf Pacino gold growing as high as 12 to 16 inches tall and capable of producing multiple flower heads on a single plant. 
Suntastic Yellow: with a height of 20 inches and its flower having golden petals. 
Sunny Smile: with height ranging from 12 to 15 inches

COLOURED SUNFLOWER 

The type of sunflower has been hybridized to bring out different beautiful colors that can be used for decoration. Examples of species of sunflowers that belonged to this group are; Terracotta, Earthwalker, Ms. Mars, Chianti, and Moulin Rouge.

Earthwalker

Terracotta

CULTIVATION OF SUNFLOWER

Sunflower can thrive well in varying kinds of soil that are well-drained and with rich organic matter. It grows best in soils that are slightly acidic to somewhat alkaline soil (pH 6.0 to 7.5). The temperature of about 25 ^oC  is required for fertilization and seed development after pollination and an annual rainfall of 300-800mm is needed for good performance.

Land preparation for sunflower involved ploughing and harrowing for a large scale production in open field as done for other annual crops.

Planting time: sunflower should be planted at the onset of rain, delayed planting will cause yield to reduce.

Seed rate, depth, and spacing: depending on the viability of the seed, sunflower can be planted two seeds per hole at a depth of 2-5cm and a spacing of 75cmx30cm.

Thinning: after 10 to 12 days of planting, the sunflower plants are thinned to one stand.

Weed control: although sunflower tends to compete very well with weeds however, it is very necessary to control weeds for the first 6 weeks after sowing of seeds before it develops canopy.

Fertilizer Application: as said earlier, sunflower required nutrients rich soil for better growth hence, 45kgN/ha,45Kg P₂O₅/ha, and 68kg K₂O/ha fertilizers are required.

Pests and Diseases Control: major pests that affect sunflower are African boll-worm and bird causing damages to the flowers of the plant. Diseases such as sunflower rust, root and stem rot, white blister and leaf spots affect the leaves, stems, roots, and flower of the plants. However, timely harvesting, use of insecticides and planting of resistant varieties of sunflower has been found to control these pests and diseases.

Maturity and Harvesting: sunflower reached maturity between 3-4 months after planting depending on the plant species and environment. A dry warm environment is needed during seed ripening. Harvesting is done when the back of the flower head turns yellow and the bract turns brown. The flower heads are cut off and sun-dried to extract the seeds for processing.

Matured sunflower

PROCESSING OF SUNFLOWER SEED INTO OIL

Sunflower oil is gotten from the Black seed sunflower plant, these seeds are pressed and processed into edible non-volatile pure vegetable oil. Below is the step by step processes involved in sunflower oil processing; 

 Cleaning: the sunflower seeds are passed through the cleaning machine to remove all impurities from the seeds.

De-hulling: this involved the cracking and removal of the seed's shells through mechanical actions and the hulls and kernels are then separated by winnowing.

Grinding: the de-hulled sunflower seeds are then grounded into a meal with hammer mill and this meal is heated to facilitate extraction of oil.

Pressing: the heated meal is then passed through a screw press that gradually squeezes out the oil from the meal leaving the oil cake.
Addition of Solvent: hexane is added to the oil cake from the screw press to further extract the remaining oil from the oil cake.
Removal of the Solvent traces: the solvent in the oil is removed by evaporation.

Refining: the oil is heated to 45°c to 85°c, mixed with alkaline substances like sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate to remove the color, odour, and bitterness of the oil. The soap formed in the process is then removed through centrifugation. The oil is then treated with steam water of 85°c to 95°c or acid to degum it and the precipitate from this reaction is removed by centrifugal process. Thereafter, the oil is filtered to remove all the bleaches caused by these additives and also prevent the solidification of the oil. Finally, the oil is deodourized by passing through a vacuum of 225°c to 250°c to distill the volatile and the odour components from the oil completely. 

Packaging: on completion of the oil extraction processes, the oil is packed into cans, bottles and glass jars for storage and in readiness for . 

Nonetheless, the byproducts from these oil extraction processes can be used in livestock feed production.

SUNFLOWER SEED AS FOOD

Striped sunflower seeds

As said in the opening section of this article, the Sunflower seed eaten as a snack is from the black and white stripe seed type of sunflower plant. These seeds are harvested from the large flower head of the sunflower having a diameter of 30.5 cm with a flower head containing close to 2,000 seeds.

Sunflower seeds are dried, graded, dehulled and roasted, ground or baked to enhance their nutty flavor and tenderness. 
 However, you can eat them by adding or mixing with other varieties of food like cereals, salads, yogurt, chicken salad, burger, Fish and so on.

Now let’s talk about the health benefits of eating Sunflower seeds:

1.      Consuming sunflower seeds can help to reduce high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol.

2.      It also helps in reducing inflammation because it contains flavonoids and compounds like vitamin E which reduces the level of C-reactive proteins in the body.

3.      It tends to reduce the risks of heart diseases because it contains magnesium and linoleic acid.

4.      It can also reduce the chances of Diabetes in a person that consumes it.
5.         It can be used to treat coughs and cold.

Having said some of the major health benefits of Sunflower seeds, now let’s take a look at some of the nutritional values of the seeds;

 

Nutrients compound	Amount
Energy	14 grams
Calories	163
proteins	5.5 grams
Fiber	3 grams
Vitamin E	37%
Niacin	10%
Vitamin B6	11%
Folate	17%
Pantothenic acid	20%
Iron	6%
Magnesium	9%
Zinc	10%
Copper	26%
Manganese	30%
Selenium	32%

TOP SUNFLOWER PRODUCING COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

As a wrap on our exploration into the world of Sunflower, let’s see some top producers of Sunflower seeds in the world in the table below;

Country	Production in million metric tons
Ukraine	15
Russia	12.71
European Union	9.9
Argentina	3.5
Turkey	1.8

Sources: Statista, Production volume of sunflower seed in major producer countries in 2018/2019

In summary, sunflower can be seen as a multipurpose crop because of its extreme relative usefulness for man and livestock. And it should be also be noted as well that the oil and seed from the plant command high prices in the world market because of its pureness and quality respectively. Hence, Sunflower production can be a good venture for any Agribusiness person.