INVESTIGATION OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SEED YIELD AND AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN SUNFLOWER

Better understanding of the relationships between seed yield and agronomic traits could facilitate sunflower breeding programs. In this study, twenty sunflower hybrids were investigated to explore the relationships between yield and agronomic traits during two years (2017 and 2018), under Agricultural Research and Development Station (ARDS) - Simnic environmental conditions. The analyses of Pearson correlation coefficients showed that the seed yield was significantly and positively correlated only with the head diameter, suggesting a reliable selection criterion for improving of seed yield in sunflower. The plant height was significantly and positively correlated with thousand seed weight, while significantly and negatively correlated with hectolitre mass and days to physiological maturity. Also, hectolitre mass was significantly and negatively correlated with thousand seed weight. Days to flowering initiation were significantly and positively correlated with days to flowering completion.