Genotypic Variability, Phenotypic correlation and Spacing Effect of some Non-Oil Producing Sunflower Genotypes for Growth and Seed Yield

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the demonstration farm, of the Agricultural Research Corporation, ELFasher North Darfur, in the period from October 2018 to January 2019, to study the genetic variability, correlation between seed yield components and effect of spacing in four genotypes of non-oil seed sunflower on seed size/bigger or seed weight. The experiment was arranged in factorial experiment using a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Twelve growth and seed yield characters were studied included plant height (cm), days to 50% flowering , stem diameter (mm), number of leaves/plant, leaf area (cm2), head diameter (cm), number of seeds/head, hundred seed weight (g), seed yield/plant(g), seed yield(T/ha) and percentage of empty seed. The phenotypic and genotypic variances, phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation and phenotypic correlation for seed yield and yield components were determined. The analysis of variance revealed significant differences between genotypes for all characters under study. For phenotypic variance the results showed that highest value (5228) was scored for number of seed per head and the lowest value (0.01374) was scored for seed yield(ton/ha). On the other hand for genotypic variance, the highest value (5328.4) was scored for number of seed per head and lowest value (0.1324) was scored for seed yield (T/ha). For the phenotypic coefficients of variation, the highest value (603.049) was scored for number of seed/head and lowest value (7.777) was scored for number of leave per plant, moreover, for the genotypic coefficient of variation the highest value (591.638) was scored for number of seed/head and the lowest value (0.7714) was scored for number of leave/plant. The results showed positive and significant phenotypic correlation between seed size (100-seed weight) and seed yield per plant, negative and significant correlation between number of plant/plot, seed weight with steam diameter. Also spacing effect in seed yield and the best number of plant per plot and seed yield was obtained at the spacing 30cm. It concluded that, a wide range of genetic variability was detected among different genotypes used in this study and will be of great interest in breeding program.