Breeding, production, and supply chain of confection sunflower in China

Over the past 40 years, confection sunflower in China has achieved significant improvements from old landraces to open-pollinated varieties (OPV) through conventional breeding. Starting in 2010, after a short period of growing U.S. hybrids, superior Chinese proprietary hybrids were developed through contributions from both the private and public sectors utilizing old landraces, OPV and limited foreign germplasms as genetic resources which eventually enabled China to become a leading producer worldwide. The average yields have steadily increased from 1730 kg/ha (OPV) to over 2700 kg/ha (hybrid) largely due to genetic improvements and advanced cultivation practices. The planted area is expected to remain at around 0.60 M ha, with over 95% confection sunflower, and the remaining 5% oilseed type. Sunflower production in China is mainly concentrated in 10 provinces of the northwest region with around three-fourth of the production in Inner Mongolia, followed by Xinjiang. The potential for increased sunflower cultivation remains optimistic in those regions due to the benefit of an established industrial supply chain of producing, processing, and marketing near the production areas. More than half of all products is domestically consumed (∼2.0 M T/year), but overseas exports have gradually increased in recent years. Future directions for confection sunflower breeding should continue emphasizing high quality, multi-disease resistance, and product versatility to meet the diverse market demands. Further enhancement of variety registration and the implementation of DNA fingerprinting for variety identification will help the sustainable development of the Chinese sunflower industry.