IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL SUNFLOWER GENOTYPES FOR YIELD AND OIL TRAITS FOR LOW WATER STRESS CONDITIONS

The present studies were conducted during the spring season 2024 at the experimental area of Oilseeds Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Tandojam, for determining the effect of low water stress for yield and oil traits of sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) genotypes, there were six genotypes, including, LD 1003, YK 221, YK A91, YK A 90, YK A92, GP-606 were investigated. The experimental design was a split-plot design with two treatments (T1=control conditions) and (T2=single irrigation), and three replications, while nine parameters were recorded. The mean squares from ANOVA expressed that all genotypes were significant for days to 90% maturity, plant height, number of seeds head-1, stem girth, head mass, protein content (%), oil content (%), oleic acid (%) and linoleic acid (%) at P<0.01. Among all genotypes, Yk a91 showed the maximum performance compared to the rest of the genotypes. YK a91 shows highest performance for PH, NSH, SG and HM and minimum for DTM, OC and LA in Low stress conditions, In water stress same genotype YK a91 has maximum performance for plant height, no. of seeds head-1, stem girth, head mass, protein content and oil content and have minimum days to 90% maturity, and minimum linoleic acid were recorded. The correlation coefficient, regression & coefficient of determination analyses under Low stress and water stress, head mass gave a positive association with its contributing traits. Heritability in a broad sense was estimated that high heritability was observed for all the studied traits. Genotype YK A91 shows the highest performance in water stress conditions. Keywords: Water stress, correlation, regression, heritability, sunflower genotypes