The Azovsky sunflower variety was developed by individual selection from mid-maturity breeding lines on a heavily infected background of Helminthosporium, followed by self-pollination and intra-variety cross-pollination of the best Helminthosporium-resistant lines. A distinguishing feature of the variety is its large fruit size — the mass of 1000 seeds is 90-110 grams. Azovsky is characterized by high resistance to the Helminthosporium complex, downy mildew, is not affected by Verticillium wilt and sunflower firefly. By the length of the vegetative period, it belongs to mid-maturity varieties; the period from germination to technical maturity in the Rostov region is 100-104 days, plant height reaches 160-200 cm.
The Azovsky variety is distinguished by high productivity and oil content. Seed yield varies within 25-35 centners per hectare, and oil content in seeds reaches 49-52%. During the years of competitive testing, it exceeded the regional variety Peredovik Ulyuchshenny by more than 2.5 centners per hectare in terms of yield. Testing results on variety plots in the Rostov region confirm high yield: in 1996 at Tselyinsky ASU under harsh weather conditions, a yield of 32.6 c/ha was obtained, at Tatsinsky ASU the variety exceeded the yield of Yubileyny 60 by 6.1 c/ha, and at Azovsky ASU in 1998 the yield was 37.2 c/ha. The optimal plant density at harvest is 35-37 thousand per hectare.
Sunflower Azovsky is widely used in oil production due to its high oil content and disease resistance. Oil from seeds is used in the food industry and for preparing food products. In addition, after processing seeds, chaff is obtained, which serves as animal feed. Moreover, blooming sunflower is an excellent nectar source, which contributes to the development of beekeeping.
