A new desiccant for sunflower may be on the market this fall.

Kixor - made by BASF - acts faster than Roundup, dries the plant down more uniformly and requires about half as much water as a carrier to be effective, says Kirk Howatt, NDSU plant scientist.

NDSU research indicates that desiccating sunflowers speeds up harvest 5-10 days. If the weather turns cool and wet, desiccation can make even a bigger difference, he says. Desiccating sunflowers can help farmers get sunflowers out of the field before blackbirds descend on fields.

At the recent National Sunflower Association meeting in Rapid City, Howatt told of an incident in which a grower lost 1,000 pounds – or half his yield – to blackbirds over a three-day weekend.

Desiccating sunflowers has not affected yield, test weight, oil content or oil composition in NDSU trials.