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Perennial Sunflower
Perennial sunflower is a crop of sunflowers that are developed by crossing wild Perennial plant, perennial and domestic annual sunflower species. Annual sunflower is a major oilseed crop. Genes from wild perennial relatives may increase root depth and mass and extend the growing season. These upgrades means future varieties with higher yields and better soil conservation. Background Sunflower seed: current production and uses Globally, sunflowers are the fourth most important oil crop. Most of the sunflower seed crop is crushed for oil, and most of the oil is consumed by humans. A major byproduct of crushing is protein-rich cake, an excellent feed for livestock. A tiny proportion of the global sunflower crop is directly eaten as “nuts” or kernels. Wild perennial relatives of sunflower There are 82 species of sunflowers (genus ''Helianthus''), all native to North America. Of these, 38 are perennials. Sunflower breeders have crossed many of these species with the ...
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Sunflower
The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as bird food, in some industrial applications, and as an ornamental in domestic gardens. Wild ''H. annuus'' is a widely branched annual plant with many flower heads. The domestic sunflower, however, often possesses only a single large inflorescence (flower head) atop an unbranched stem. The binomial name ''Helianthus annuus'' is derived from the Greek ''Helios'' 'sun' and ''anthos'' 'flower', while the epithet ''annuus'' means 'annual' in Latin. The plant was first domesticated in the Americas. Sunflower seeds were brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, where, along with sunflower oil, they became a widespread cooking ingredient. With time, bulk of industrial-scale production has shifted to Eastern Europe, and () Russ ...
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Perennial Plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth (secondary growth in girth) from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials. Perennialsespecially small flowering plantsthat grow and bloom over the spring and summer, die back every autumn and winter, and then return in the spring from their rootstock or other overwintering structure, are known as herbaceous perennials. However, depending on the rigours of local climate (temperature, moisture, organic content in the soil, microorganisms), a plant that is a perennial in its native habitat, or in a milder garden, may be treated by a gardener as an annual and planted out every year, from seed, from cuttings, or from divisions. Tomato vines, for example, live several y ...
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Oilseed
Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fats from seeds. Olive oil, palm oil, and rice bran oil are examples of fats from other parts of fruits. In common usage, vegetable ''oil'' may refer exclusively to vegetable fats which are liquid at room temperature. Vegetable oils are usually edible. Uses In antiquity Oils extracted from plants have been used since ancient times and in many cultures. Archaeological evidence shows that olives were turned into olive oil by 6000 BCE and 4500 BCE in present-day Israel and Palestine. In addition to use as food, fats and oils (both vegetable and mineral) have long been used as fuel, typically in lamps which were a principal source of illumination in ancient times. Oils may have been used for lubrication, but there is no evidence for this. Vege ...
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Soil Conservation
Soil conservation is the prevention of loss of the topmost layer of the soil from erosion or prevention of reduced fertility caused by over usage, acidification, salinization or other chemical soil contamination. Slash-and-burn and other unsustainable methods of subsistence farming are practiced in some lesser developed areas. A sequel to deforestation is typically large-scale erosion, loss of soil nutrients and sometimes total desertification. Techniques for improved soil conservation include crop rotation, cover crops, conservation tillage and planted windbreaks, affect both erosion and fertility. When plants die, they decay and become part of the soil. Code 330 defines standard methods recommended by the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. Farmers have practiced soil conservation for millennia. In Europe, policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy are targeting the application of best management practices such as reduced tillage, winter cover crops, plant residue ...
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Helianthus
''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to North America and Central America. The best-known species is the common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus''), whose round flower heads in combination with the ligules look like the Sun. This and other species, notably Jerusalem artichoke (''H. tuberosus''), are cultivated in temperate regions and some tropical regions, as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and as ornamental plants. The species ''H. annuus'' typically grows during the summer and into early fall, with the peak growth season being mid-summer. Several perennial ''Helianthus'' species are grown in gardens, but have a tendency to spread rapidly and can become aggressive. On the other hand, the whorled sunflower, ''Helianthus verticillatus'', was listed as an endanger ...
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Drought Resistance
Drought tolerance is the ability to which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tolerance, detoxification, or repair of xylem embolism. Other plants, specifically crops like Maize, corn, wheat, and rice, have become increasingly tolerant to drought with new varieties created via genetic engineering. The plants behind drought tolerance are complex and involve many pathways which allows plants to respond to specific sets of conditions at any given time. Some of these interactions include stomatal conductance, carotenoid degradation and anthocyanin accumulation, the intervention of osmoprotectants (such as sucrose, glycine, and proline), Reactive oxygen species, ROS-scavenging enzymes. The molecular control of drought tolerance is also very complex and is influenced other factors such as environment and the Plant development, developmen ...
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Jerusalem Artichoke
The Jerusalem artichoke (''Helianthus tuberosus''), also called sunroot, sunchoke, wild sunflower, topinambur, or earth apple, is a species of sunflower native to central North America. It is cultivated widely across the temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable.Purdue University Center for New Crops & Plants Products''Helianthus tuberosus''/ref> Description ''Helianthus tuberosus'' is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to tall with opposite leaves on the lower part of the stem but alternate towards the top. The leaves have a rough, hairy texture. Larger leaves on the lower stem are broad ovoid-acute and can be up to long. Leaves higher on the stem are smaller and narrower. The flowers are yellow and produced in capitate flowerheads, which are in diameter, with 10–20 ray florets and 60 or more small disc florets. The flowers are briefly fragrant, giving off a light, vanilla-chocolate perfume. The tubers are often elongated and uneven, typically ...
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Crossing Strategy
Crossing may refer to: * ''Crossing'' (2008 film), a South Korean film * ''Crossing'' (album), a 1985 album by world music/jazz group Oregon * Crossing (architecture), the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church * Crossing (knot theory), a visualization of intersections in mathematical knots * Crossing (physics), the relation between particle and antiparticle scattering * Crossing (plant), deliberate interbreeding of plants * Crossing oneself, a ritual hand motion made by some Christians * William Crossing (1847–1928), English writer * Intersection (road), also known as a crossing * Level crossing, a railway crossing a street See also * Crossings (other) * The Crossing (other) * Cross (other) A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars. Cross or The Cross may also refer to: Religion * Christian cross, the basic symbol of Christianity * Cross necklace, a necklace worn by adherents of the Christian ... ...
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Land Institute
The Land Institute is an American nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ... research, education, and policy organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture, based in Salina, Kansas. Their goal is to develop an agricultural system based on Perennial grain, perennial crops that "has the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual plant, annual crops". History The institute was founded on in 1976 by plant geneticist and MacArthur Fellows Program, MacArthur "genius grant" recipient Wes Jackson along with Dana Jackson, who has worked with the Land Stewardship Project in Minnesota. The Land Institute promotes "natural systems agriculture" through plant breeding. Using selective breeding and other techniques, they are working ...
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