Inheritance of high stearic acid content in sunflower seed oil

Background. Development of sunflower hybrids with a semisolid oil type induced by higher stearic acid content attracts attention as a nutritionally sound alternative to palm oil and hydrogenated trans fats. The genetic control of the high stearic mutation in different sources should be studied for the development of a scientific breeding strategy. Materials and methods. The following lines from the genetic collection were tested: high-stearic high-oleic LG31, high-stearic low-oleic LG33, high-stearic low-oleic LG35, and high-oleic VK1-klp, as well as VK101 and VK580. Seeds of the P, F 1 and F2 generations were studied. The fatty acid composition was analyzed with gas-liquid chromatography on a Chromatec-Crystal 2000 device. Results . Incomplete dominance of low stearic acid content with h/d = −0.68 in F 1 and segregation in F 2 according to the digenic scheme 9 : 6 : 1 were observed in the VK580 × LG33 cross. Incomplete dominance of the low-stearic parent with h/d = −0.76 in F 1 and similar digenic segregation in F 2 were also recorded for the VK1-klp × LG31 cross on a high-oleic background. The reciprocal cross VK101 × LG35 showed intermediate inheritance of stearic acid content in F 1 , while continual variation with the appearance of a mutant phenotype of the LG35 line according to the digenic scheme 15 : 1 was observed in F 2 . Conclusion. The trait of high stearic acid content was digenically controlled. Lines LG31 and LG33, originating from the same source, showed recessive inheritance of high stearic content, and line LG35 was characterized by intermediate inheritance of the trait. The high-stearic mutant genotype es1 es1 es2 es2 was phenotypically expressed to the maximum extent in the absence of a high-oleic mutation Ol in the seed oil. 1 1 2 2