Identification and morphological description of cultivars of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

Abstract

A number of imported sunflower cultivars have been marketed in Indonesia. The seeds were mostly imported from the United Kingdom and Australia. An evaluation of morphological, growth and flowering was conducted in 2006 to identify sunflower cultivars adapted to Bogor growing conditions and to determine their potential uses. Most of the tested cultivars, except for ‘Sungold Double’ and ‘Velvet Queen’, demonstrated good germination rates. ‘Eclipse’ was highly susceptible to bacterial wilt, which resulted in only 30% of the plants survived. ‘Little Leo’, ‘Teddy Bear’ and ‘Sungold Double’ were naturally compact, short, and produced attractive flowers, so they are suitable as pot plants. ‘Hallo’, ‘Velvet Queen’, ‘Sunburst’, and ‘Eclipse’s height were more than 100 cm, had long stem and large size flowers. These cultivars are suitable as landscape plants or cut flowers.