Compatibility of different genotypes of sunflower by principal component analysis method

Background and objectives: Sunflower is one of the most important oil plants adapted to different regions of the world. Oil sunflower cultivation in Iran started in 2016 with an area of 1,719 ha and reached 107,000 ha with an average seed yield of 690 kg ha-1 per in 2012. Due to mainly economic reasons as well as the incompleteness of the seed supply cycle, the area under sunflower cultivation decreased to about 10.000 ha in the year of 2021. The ability of grow sunflower in spring and summer in temperate and cold climate and the ability to grow it in autumn and winter in southern tropical regions show the ability and adaptability of this plant to different regions of Iran. The possibility of mechanized cultivation, short growing period relative drought tolerance and high oil percentage of 40-45% are the advantages of sunflower cultivation. One of the most important factors in the reduction of the sunflower cultivation area is the lack of access to certified seeds at the time of cultivation, and this is while since 1987 to 2019, a number of 12 hybrids adapted to different conditions of Iran were introduced by the Institute of Breeding and Seedling and Seed Production. The object of this research was to evaluate the compatibility and determine the agronomic value of different sunflower genotypes studied in Shahrood region during two years by the method of principal component analysis (PCA) in different and stable genotypes for introduction for cultivation in the region.

Materials and methods: The experiment was conducted in the research farm of the Shahrood Agricultural Research and Training Center in a factorial format in the form of a randomized complete block design in three replications in two crop years 1400 and 1401. In this test, ten promising hybrids, two free pollinator breeding populations of sunflower were compared with the cultivars Zarin, Golsa, Lacomka and Progressus as experimental control cultivars.

Results: Based on the results, the two hybrids SUN97-H2 and SUN97-H28 and the Shahed Progress cultivar were ranked first with their seed yield of 4557, 4516 and 4305 kg ha-1, respectively. Examining the performance characteristics and performance components of the examined genotypes based on the environmental change coefficient showed the performance stability of SUN97-H2 and SUN95-H7 hybrids and all four open-pollinated populations. Based on the results of composite variance analysis, a significant difference was observed between the studied genotypes. The main effects of the year on the characteristics of the day of flowering, plant height, weight of 1000 seeds and diameter according to maturity, plant height, weight of 1000 seeds and diameter according to the probability level of 1% and on the trait of plant height at the probability level of 5% were significant. It was not significant on the traits of day to maturity, stem bending, seed yield, oil yield, oil percentage, number of seeds per pod and stem diameter. The main effects of genotype, in addition to the significant effect on the aforementioned traits, were also significant on oil percentage and yield. Also, the interaction between year and genotype on yield, oil percentage, stem bending and number of seeds according to stem diameter was significant. The coefficient of variation in the analysis of variance varied between 2.8 and 26.12 and only in oil performance this coefficient was more than 25. Based on the results of factor analysis, the evaluated traits were divided into two factors.

Conclusion: According to the results of this research, there was significant difference between genotypes in terms of yield and yield components.