In Ukraine, sunflower is increasingly affected by a top. Another name for this parasite is broomrape. In the last decade, the level of infection of soils with a top has tripled.

The soils of the southern and eastern regions of the country are most affected by the top. Here, the infection reaches 100%. In Ukraine, hybrids of foreign selection of sunflower are mainly grown, which do not have sufficient resistance to local broomrape populations.

In the case of severe ground damage by a top, hybrids that do not have genetic resistance against it, are greatly inhibited during growth. This leads to a noticeable decrease in the expected yield from 30 to 100%. For information, the broomrape of sunflower came from the Mediterranean, where it was a wormwood parasite. In Ukraine, it easily adapted to sunflower. At the beginning of the twentieth century, breeders of Ukraine bred resistant varieties of sunflower, but they also found an approach to broomrape, resulting in the local name “spinning top”.

Scientists all over the world are concerned about the problem of infection of soils with a top. Considerable funds are being set aside to develop anti-broomrape remedies. So, the company “Alpha Himgroup” released the herb Ultra Device, which cleans the land not only from broomrape, but also from other weeds, such as sow thistle and ragweed. In addition, new varieties of sunflower were developed that are highly resistant to the parasitic plant: Auris, Atilla, Bond and Tristan.