The problem of safe sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) use for food and fodder purposes

Risks associated with the contamination of agricultural products with mycotoxins have been and still remain under the close attention of the world’s biological science. In recent decades, special concern was related to the state of the grain harvest, intended for food and feed purposes. In most grain-producing countries, significant progress has been made in the identification of toxin-forming micromycetes and assessing the risk caused by the spread of mycotoxins (T.Yu. Gagkaeva et al., 2004; G.P. Kononenko et al., 2008, 2009; P.M. Scott et al., 2012).For the second most important group of agricultural plants, the oilseedsrepresented mainly by sunflower, soybean, peanut, rapeseed and cotton, there is a significant lag in such studies, which only has to be overcome. Helianthus annuus L. is cultivated everywhere, practically in all regions of the world, suitable for agriculture, and the area of its commercial cultivation is also extremely wide. The group of world leaders in the production of sunflower seeds includes the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Argentina, India and China, but thiscrop is also cultivated on a significant scale in other countries...