Studies on heterosis for seed yield and yield contributing traits in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

Introduction

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L., 2𝑛 = 2𝑥 = 34) is an important oilseed crop after groundnut, soybean, rapeseed and mustard belonging to family Asteraceae, native to the Southern part of USA and Mexico. The genus Helianthus is named from the Greek word Helios meaning 'Sun' and anthus meaning 'Flower'. The genus name associates the characteristic heliotropism exhibited during the flowering period. India is the 4 th largest oilseed producing country in the world after USA, China and Brazil. However, it is the 3 rd largest consumer and 2 nd largest importer of edible oils (DVVOF, 2017) and enjoys a distinct position in terms of diversity in annual oilseed crops. After cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines and fertility restorer lines were discovered, population breeding was switched to heterosis breeding. Commercial sunflower farming started in India in the 1970s with the selection of imported open-pollinated populations. Classical cytoplasmic male sterility (PET-1) discovered by Leclercq (1969) [1] and a few restorer lines are being utilized for commercial hybrid seed production in sunflowers over the world since 1972. The utilization of a single source of male sterility results in a high level of vulnerability to biotic and abiotic stresses. A heterotic cross combination is more likely to produce an F 1 with a wide range of variation in segregating generations the more unlike the parents. The numerous CMS and restorer lines aim to produce superior hybrids with increased oil content and seed output as well as improved heterosis and stability. Exploring heterosis is a strategy for boosting sunflower productivity and output. High-yielding hybrids have rapidly surpassed open-pollinated cultivars in sunflower production, which was previously dominated by them. However, many hybrids failed to pique the interest of the agricultural community as profitable crops due to poor seed filling, low yield levels, low oil content, and vulnerability to disease and insects. These events might occur as a result of the interaction between Genotype and Enviornment. The decision was made to look for high heterotic stable crosses as a result. Numerous candidate genotypes are typically evaluated in a variety of conditions for critical yield-related variables prior to the selection of approved genotypes. The genotype's performance in terms of yield and yield contributing potential was significantly influenced by location, seasonal variation, and their interactions.

Materila and methods

The present research conducted at Oilseeds Research Unit, Akola, Agricultural Research Station, Ekarjuna and Oilseeds Research Unit, Jalgaon during Kharif-2024 seasons. Crossing programme adopting using line × tester mating design (Kempthorne, 1957) [2] and the parental material consisting of four CMS lines (HA 288A, HA 228A, HA 302A, CMS 17A, CMS 138A, AKSF 10-1-1A ) and ten testers (PB 1208, PB 1210, PB 1100, PB 1103, PB 1575, PB 898, AKSFI-22-1, AKSFI-22-2, AKSFI-22-3 and AKSFI-22-4). The resultant 60 hybrids along with their 16 parents and four checks viz. LSFH-171, PDKVSH 952, PDKV Suraj and DRSH-1 were evaluated in randomized block design. Each plot consisted of one row of 3.0 meter length with a spacing of 60 cm between rows and 30 cm between plants. Observations were recorded in each entry on randomly selected three plants for importance yield contributing characters viz. days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, head diameter (cm), 100 seed weight (g), volume weight (g/100 ml), seed filling (%), hull content (%) and seed yield per plant (g).

Results and discussion

Pooled location wise (Akola, Ekarjuna and Jalgaon) analysis of variance was carried out for seed yield and its components. The results are presented in Table 1. Pooled locationwise (Akola, Ekarjuna and Jalgaon) analysis of variance for Kharif 2024 revealed significant ge-netic and environmental variation for seed yield and its component traits. The mean sum of squares due to parents and hybrids were highly significant for all the characters, indicating substantial variability among the genotypes. The parents vs. hybrids effect was also highly significant for most traits, except volume weight, demonstrating considerable divergence between parental and hybrid performance. Significant environment × genotype interactions were observed for most characters, except hull content and seed yield, indicating differential response of genotypes across environments. Environment × parent interactions were significant for the majority of traits, whereas environment × hybrid interactions were significant for most characters, except hull content and seed yield. The environment × parent vs. hybrid interaction was significant for nearly all characters, except volume weight. Overall, the pooled analysis demonstrated the presence of substantial genetic variability along with significant environmental influence and genotype × environment interaction, suggesting differential expression and environmental responsiveness of parents and hybrids for seed yield and its component traits. [3] ; Pole et al. (2020) [4] ; Rajane et al. (2022) [5] ; Shinde et al. (2023) [6] ; Sharron et al. (2024) [7] also reported high positive heterosis for volume weight and seed filling percentage. For hull content since lower hull content is desirable, negative heterosis was considered favourable. [6] ; Sharron et al. (2024) [7] also recorded lowest hull content.

Conclusion

Overall, the results demonstrated substantial heterotic variability among the hybrids for most traits. HA 288A × AKSFI-22-3 showed the greatest and most consistent negative heterosis for earliness, while

References

1. Leclercq P. Line sterile cytoplasmique chezk tournesol. Ann. Amelior Planta. 1969;19:99-106.
2. Kempthorne O. An introduction to Genetic Statistics. The Iowa University Press; 1957:18-23.
3. Lakshman SS, Chakrabarty NR, Ghodke MK, Kole PC. Heterosis study in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Euro. J. Exp. Bio. 2020;10(1):1-14.
4. Pole SP, Kalpande HV, Toprope VN, Zate DK. Heterotic behaviour of sunflower hybrids in different environments. J Pharmacogn Phytochem. 2020;9(6):426-430.
5. Rajane AR, Nichal SS, Fatak SU, Vaidya ER, Sasane PR, Kale PP. Heterotic Performance of F1 Hybrids for Yield, its Components and Oil Content of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Biological Forum -An Int. J. 2022;14(2a):276-285.
6. Shinde JV, Ghodke MK, Chaudhari BD, Gaiwal KB. Heterosis for seed yield and yield contributing traits in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). J. Oilseeds Res. 2023;39(Special Issue):344-345.
7. Sharron KB, Sasikala R, Kalaiyarasi R, Harish S, Vanitha K. Assessment of Combining Ability and Heterosis for Seed Yield and its Attributes in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Plant Science Today. 2024. How to cite this article: Fatak SU, Gahukar S, Ghorade R, Meena H, Gawande V. Studies on heterosis for seed yield and yield contributing traits in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). International Journal of Advanced Biochemistry Research. 2026;SP-10(10):544-550. doi: https://www.doi.org/10.33545/261