(.BREEDING STUDIES OF SOME ECONOMIC CHARACTERS ON SUNFLOWER (Helianthus annuus L

Abstract

The mm of this investigation was to determine the extent of heterosis and combining ability estimates and their interaction with three• spacings (densities) 35000 (D1) 23333 (D2) and 17500 (D3) plants/fed. in two locations, namely, Sakha (Ll) and El-Serw (L2), for 50% flowering date, physiological maturity date, plant height, stem diameter, head diameter, 100-seed weight, seed husk percent, number of seeds/head, seed yield/plant, oil percentage, oil yield/plant and seed yield/fed. Six cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines (A-lines), two introduced from USDA (A 1 and) and the others produced in El-Serw, Egypt (A3, A6, A9, and A10), and five fertility restorer lines (RF-lines), three of them introduced from USDA (R3, R4 and R8) and two from El-Serw Station Egypt (R12 and R14) of sunflower were planted at Sakha Agric. Research Station in 1996 summer season for developing 30 top crosses. In 1997 summer season, the thirty hybrids, the five testers, the six fertile lines (B-lines) and the three hybrids (Eirflor, Malabar and Vidoic) were sown in two locations i.e., Sakha on 3'd July and El-Serw on 1th June. In each location, a split plot design with three replications was used. The main plots were assigned to plant spacings (densities) while sub-plots were allocated to forty four genotypes of sunflower. Each sub-plot consisted of five ridges, each ridge was 420 em. long and 60 em wide. Calcium superphosphate (15.5% P205) was added during seed bed preparation at the rate of 100-kg/fed.