Four recently duplicated flowering genes in sunflower have met diverse fates, including acquisition of a new regulatory function, providing intriguing insights into duplicate gene evolution as well as sunflower domestication.

Sunflower stalks were analysed for chemical compositions: pentosan 15.84%, holocellulose 70.69%, alphacellulose 45.74%, glucose 27.10% and xylose 7.69% based on dry weight of 100-g raw material. The most optimum condition for steam explosion pretreatment was as follows. Sunflower stalks were cut into small pieces and soaked in 0.02 M H2SO4 for overnight. After that, they were steam exploded at ...

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of sunflower seed supplements with varying fatty acid profiles on performance, reproduction, intake, and digestion in beef cattle. In Exp. 1, 127 multiparous spring-calving beef cows with free-choice access to bermudagrass hay were individually fed 1 of 3 supplements for an average of 83 d during mid to late gestation. Supplements (DM basi...

Anaerobic digestion is a common technology to biologically stabilize wasted solids produced in municipal wastewater treatment. Its efficiency is usually evaluated by calculating the reduction in volatile solids, which assumes no biomass growth associated with digestion. To determine whether this assumption is valid and further evaluate digestion efficiency, this study sampled 35 digester sludge...

Attaining maximum sustained yield (MSY) is a central goal in U.S. fisheries management. To attain MSY, fishing mortality is maintained at FMSY and biomass at BMSY. Replacing FMSY and BMSY by “proxies” for FMSY and BMSY is commonplace. However, these proxies are not equivalent to FMSY and BMSY. The lack of equivalency is an important issue with regard to whether MSY is attained or whether biomas...

 While occasional insect pests of cultivated sunflowers may be managed by conventional or reducedrisk insecticides, the cumulative costs and risks of relying on insecticides to suppress perennial or severe pests (common in North America) call for exploration of broader pest management strategies.  Recent research with the sunflower moth (Homoeosoma electellum [Pyralidae]) and banded sunflower...

This study was carried out to determine the effects of actic acid bacterial inoculant on the fermentation and aerobic stability of sunflower silages. Sunflower was harvested at the milk stage. Inoculant-1174 (Pioneer®,USA) was used as homofermentative lactic acid bacterial inoculant. Inoculant was applied 6.00 log10 cfu/g silage levels. Silages with no additive served as controls. After treatme...