IN BRIEF

7 March 1997

IN BRIEF

SUNFLOWERS could be widely planted across southern and central England thanks to new hybrids, says Novartis NK Seeds. Quoting Kent-based sunflower authority Peter Hutley-Bull it says new varieties like Santafe and Sanluca should help overcome the perception that the crop is unsuitable for the UK. The Novartis NK pair offer a compromise between traditional tall types, which suffer from late harvests and botrytis, and dwarf varieties, which combine earlier but are potentially lower yielding. UK imports of sunflower oil are put at more than 100,000t a year.