Heterotic Effect of Different Cytoplasmic Combinations in Sunflower Hybrids Cultivated Under Diverse Irrigation Regimes

Abstract

The sunflower hybrids hold a narrow cytoplasmic diversity. Besides, the heterotic effect of wild cytoplasmic combinations of sunflower on important traits under water stress has not been explored in detail. Here, we evaluated the different sunflower cytoplasmic combinations in sunflower hybrids using cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) sources as female parents. We used a total of sixteen sunflower genotypes representing twelve CMS lines from wild and conventional sources along with four restorer lines. Twelve CMS lines were crossed with four restorer lines to develop a total of 48 F1 hybrid combinations. The hybrids were evaluated under two different environments (i.e., regular irrigation and water stress) for morphophysiological, yield, and biochemical traits over two years. Heterotic effect for various CMS sources was evaluated on all of the three possible scales, namely, better-parent heterosis (BPH), mid-parent heterosis (MPH), and heterosis as percent of check (PSH-996). For better-parent and mid-parent heterosis, the CMS sources Helianthus annuus, Helianthus argophyllus, and Helianthus debilis demonstrated positive better-parent heterosis for seed yield, oil content, and oleic acid irrespective of the environment. However, the hybrid combinations of different sources when using the genotype RCR8297 as the restorer parent recorded maximum average returns. Furthermore, chlorophyll meter (SPAD) reading positively correlated with days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, and number of leaves per plant in both the environments. Overall, this study identified and compared the heterotic effect of the different cytoplasmic combinations in sunflower under water stress as well as under normal irrigation environments.

Comparative performance of elite inbred lines with alien cytosterile sources and their corresponding hybrids in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

“…The results provided strong evidence for the role of male sterility inducing cytoplasm effects on the expression of hybrids. The results obtained in the present study are in confirmation with the earlier works of Patil et al (2003), Tyagi and Dhillon (2017) and Tyagi et al (2020) in sunflower. The differential responses of isonuclear alloplasmic hybrids on per se performance could be not only due to the influence of cytoplasm per se, but also due to its interaction with restorers.…”

“…The significant differences between hybrids were present in three of the ten nuclear genetic backgrounds indicating that the cytoplasm did have a significant influence on per se performance for plant height and as medium stature plants are preferred in sunflower, cytosterile source ARG 3 can be considered over E002 as a donor for the trait. Tyagi et al (2020) also observed variations in the performance of alien cytoplasm based hybrids in Sunflower.…”

Genetic Analysis of Earliness, Yield, Oil Quality-Related Traits, and Dna-Based Hybrid Authentication in Sunflower

“…Crosses vs. parents (P ≤ 0.05-0.01) also showed highly significant results for all the traits except head diameter (Table 2). Substantial variation among genotypes for yield-related traits also resulted from studies by Sarwar et al (2013) and Tyagi et al (2020).…”

Glomus mosseae and Pseudomonas fluorescens Application Sustains Yield and Promote Tolerance to Water Stress in Helianthus annuus L.

“…Hoagland's nutrient solution without P (100 mL/pot) was applied after every 15th day of transplantation [56]. A package of practices was followed for various agronomical practices as defined elsewhere [57].…”