One hundred and ninety six germplasm accessions of sunflower were evaluated for yield and yield components to study the extent of variation in different quantitative traits. The germplasm accessions were also characterized on the basis of qualitative traits. Highest phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation were recorded for 100-seed weight, followed by seed yield, oil yield, number of filled seeds per plant, plant height and head diameter. Heritability was highest for 100-seed weight (72.0%), followed by seed (68.6%), number of filled seeds per plant (64.9%), oil yield (64.1%), and oil content (56.0%). Genetic advanceas percent of mean was highest for oil yield (50.7%), followed by seed yield (50.6%) and number of filled seeds per plant (33.9%). Qualitative traits also showed wide variability among the genotypes.
Sunflower, germplasm, characterization, variability
