No abstract

No abstract

Exploration of heterosis is a strategy for enhancing sunflower yield and productivity. In India, the greatest constraints on sunflower production are stagnant and inconsistent yields. By raising them in a variety of ecological conditions, stable per-se performance with the highest yielding potential sunflower hybrids were selected. Sustainable agriculture requires the use of desirable hybrids with high seed yields and oil content too. By making three distinct crossing sets from 32 sunflower genotypes, 11 cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), and 21 restorer lines, a total of 124 hybrids were developed (comprising both lines and tester). After extensive field evaluation of all hybrids, only eight superior F1s belonging to all three sets, as well as the three national control hybrids KBSH-53, LSFH-171, and DRSH-1, were selected for stability analysis in four agro-ecological regions of West Bengal, India viz., Nimpith, Baruipur, Bankura, and Berhapore. The genetic stability of several phenotypic characters was assessed using statistical models that examine genotype-environment interaction (G × E) in multi-locational yield trials. In this experiment, the performance of hybrids under various environmental circumstances over two-year periods was measured using regression coefficient (bi) and deviations from regression (S2di). With the exception of genotypes CMS-852A × EC-601751 for volume weight (0.9335) and CMS-302A × EC-623011 for head diameter (0.0905) and volume weight (0.6425), all sunflower genotypes for all concerned traits had extremely minor and negligible deviations from regression (S2di), which showed significant values. The genotypes having insignificant values of S2di were more stable. The economic heterosis of these novel hybrids was also quantified. CMS-302A × EC-623011 in which seed yield was recorded 20.90, 20.91, 20.95 and 20.90% higher than DRSH-1 at Nimpith, Baruipur, Bankura and PORS (Berhampur), respectively. The research revealed that CMS-302A × EC-623011, CMS-853A × EC-623027 and P-2–7-1A × EC-512682 exhibited good seed production and stability for critical agronomic parameters in addition to oil content. As a result, the current researches enlighten to find out how stable the expression of important economic traits in sunflower hybrids is.

Present investigation was carried out to spot out the best parent combinations giving high degree of useful heterosis for economic traits like seed yield and other yield attributing characters for sunflower breeding programme. Economic/ Standard heterosis is the measure of heterosis in terms of superiority over the standard check(s) / hybrid(s). The degree of heterosis varied for important useful characters among different crosses. Presence of high heterosis in certain crosses and low in others suggested that the nature of gene action varied with genetic architecture of the parents. For seed yield (kg/ha),the range of significant heterosis was observed from-21.4 per cent (CMS-10A XR-6D-1) to +19.0 per cent (P-2-7-1A X R 601958) along with two hybrids namely P-2-7-1A X R 601958 (19.0 %) and CMS-10 A X R-104 (12.4%) over standard check LSFH-171. The range of economic heterosis over DRSH-1 was recorded from-7.8 per cent (CMS-10A XR-6D-1) to 39.6 per cent (P-2-7-1A X EC-601958) with a total of twelve hybrids registering significant positive heterosis over DRSH-1. Among them, P-2-7-1A X EC-601958958(39.6 %), CMS-10 A X R-104(31.8)%), P-89-1A XEC-601958(22.4%) and CMS-302A X EC-512682(20.0 %) were found to be a superior crosses. For oil yield (kg/ha), significant heterosis was observed from-21.8 per cent (P-89-1A X R-630) to 22.60 per cent (P-2-7-1A X R 601958) along with the five hybrids such as P

Heterosis is the increase or decrease in vigour of F1 over its mid or better parental value. The development of new high yielding and stable sunflower hybrids based on hybridization requires information on the heterotic effects for agronomically important traits in the F1 generation. This paper estimates the extent of heterosis for various characters and to isolate promising sunflower hybrids. From the experiment it was revealed that the average heterosis of 8.9% for days to 50% flowering, 65.1% for plant height; 80.3% for head diameter;139.8% for seed yield (kg/ha);107.5% for number of filled seed/head; 5.9% for seed filling %; 10.8% for 100 seed weight, 12.1%for 100 seed kernel weight, 6.5% for hull content; 4.7% for volume weight (g/100 cc); 0.1% for oil content (%;) and 140.4% for oil yield (kg/ha) respectively. In all crosses, seed and oil yield (kg/ha) traits and other desirable traits, P-2-7-1A, CMS-10 A, P-89-1A, EC-601958, R-104, EC-601978, R-138-2, R-630 and R-6D-1 were involved more frequently. Among the 36 sunflower hybrids, for seed yield and oil yield (kg/ha), fifteen crosses displayed significant positive sca effects and performance per se, among them the crosses.

A field experiment was carried out at Ramkrishna Ashram KVK Instructional Farm, Nimpith, South 24Parganas during the pre-kharif season, 2012 to evaluate the performance of 66 numbers of green gram (Vigna radiata L.) genotypes in low to medium saline soil in coastal saline belts of Sundarbans, West Bengal. Almost all the 66 cultivars selected for the experiments took 5-6 days for 75% germination of seedlings and 27-36 days to achieve 50% flowering. Final plant stand count was from 70-80%. The higher value of seed yield was observed in PUSA-2031 (1398 kg), 75.4% higher in comparison to the local check Chaiti moong (797 kg/ha) followed by KM-11-573 (1302 kg; 63.3% more than LC), SM-11-41 (1286 kg; 61.3% more than LC), KM-11-583 (1280 kg, 60.6% more than LC), KM-11-578 (1211 kg, 51.9% more than LC), respectively. The significantly higher values of other yield attributing traits were observed among the green gram genotypes. In case of root length, the above genotypes were found significantly lower (12.33-14.33 cm, 7.8-20.4%) than the Chaiti moong (LC) 15.5 cm. From the above experiment it may be concluded that in the similar situation as well as soil salinity condition the above green gram genotypes may prove to perform better than the local cultivar Chaiti moong for cultivation in the coastal saline regions of Sundarbans, West Bengal.

This article is based on a study that was carried out to identify the best hybrid combinations giving high degree of useful heterosis for economic traits such as seed and oil yield in sunflower under high saline soil in coastal saline belts of West Bengal. The present study was carried out at Nimpith (West Bengal) in 2017-18 and 2018-19 with the specific objectives of identifying the standard heterotic cross combinations of sunflower hybrids and identifying the superior sunflower hybrids suitable for growing in rabi season in West Bengal’s agro-climatic conditions. A set of sunflower hybrids along with the three national checks, LSFH-171, KBSH-53 and DRSH-1, were evaluated in a randomized block design. The degree of heterosis varied for important useful characters among the different crosses. Presence of high heterosis in certain crosses and low in others suggested that the nature of gene action varied with genetic architecture of the parents. From the study, it may be concluded that the sunflower hybrids viz. CMS 519A X TSG-255, CMS 148A X EC-201868 and CMS 207A X R-272 may be promoted for AICRP multilocation trial or coordinated trial to evaluate their performance in Indian subcontinent. It is because of their superior traits for oil yield over the best national check sunflower hybrids in given environments.

The present study was carried out to evaluate the response of different bioagents/biofungicides and growth regulators on seed germination and early seedling growth of sunflower. Eleven (11) treatments were established for the present investigation. Higher germination was observed in T5, T6/T7, T10 and T11 treatments in contrast to other treatments. Treatments T7, T3 and T11 were found significantly better than all other treatments. Generally, root and shoot length increased with the advancement of growth stages. T4 showed higher number of secondary roots in comparison to all other treatments. The shoot length and root length in all the cases (irrespective of the cultivars: DRSH-1, DRSF-108, LSFH-171) were highly influenced by the bioinoculants and chemicals; however, influence of bioagents was found better than the chemicals. Similarly, the seedling weight in 96 hours after sowing and 144 hours after sowing in all the cultivars was reported higher than when the seeds were treated with bioinoculants, which reflected the efficacy of the bioinoculants compared to others.