Evaluation of Introgressed Lines of Sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.) under Contrasting Water Treatments

Muhammad Mubashar Hussain, Saeed Rauf, Muqadas Noor, Amir Bibi, Rodomiro Ortiz () and Jeff Dahlberg
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Muhammad Mubashar Hussain: Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan
Saeed Rauf: Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan
Muqadas Noor: Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan
Amir Bibi: Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan
Rodomiro Ortiz: Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan
Jeff Dahlberg: Kearney Agricultural Research & Extension, 9240 South Riverbend Avenue, Parlier, CA 93648, USA

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: Drought stress is a major production constraint in crops globally. Crop wild relatives are important sources of resistance and tolerance for both biotic and abiotic stresses, respectively. A breeding program was initiated to introgress drought tolerance in sunflowers through hybridization between the wild species Helianthus argophyllus and the cultivated pool of H. annuus . Selection was carried out from the F 2 to F 5 segregating populations for the silver canopy, high cuticular wax, small leaf area, single heading and high oil content. Cuticular wax ranged between 8.72 µg g −1 and 17.19 µg g −1 in the F 5 offspring. The selected F 5 breeding lines were self-pollinated to obtain the F 6 generation. Thereafter, this F 6 was compared with the non-adapted elite sunflower germplasm in a factorial complete randomized design with different water treatments; i.e., comparing fully irrigated (100%, T0) versus 75% (T1), 50% (T2) and 25% (T3) of total irrigation. The comparison between the two types of the germplasm showed that drought-tolerant breeding lines had a comparatively lesser decrease in leaf area (0, 11, 22%) and shoot length (4, 21, 28%) than the elite germplasm, which experienced a decrease in leaf area (21%, 33% and 40%) and shoot length (17, 27 and 34%) under the various drought treatments. Moreover, drought-tolerant breeding lines had 100% more root shoot ratios than the elite germplasm (20%) in T3 when compared with control. Several drought-tolerant promising lines (D-2, D-5 and D-27) were selected due to their high leaf area, great root length and increased root to shoot ratio under T3. Some of the lines could be directly used for the development of drought-tolerant hybrids. Combining ability testing indicated that D-27 (F 7 ) was a good general combiner for seed yield plant −1 and oil content after mating with male-line RSIN.82. Resulting hybrids could help to minimize seed yield loss due to water stress and to achieve profitable cultivation of sunflowers in arid regions of Pakistan.

Keywords: drought stress; introgression; leaf area; root to shoot ratio; wild species; yield loss (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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