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Inheritance of the Stay Green Trait in Sunflower

North Dakota State Univ., Plant Sci. Dep., Fargo, ND 58105
USDA-ARS, Northern Crop Science Lab., P.O. Box 5677, Fargo, ND 58105

^* Corresponding author (millerjf{at}fargoars.usda).

The stay green trait of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) inbred lines and hybrids has been observed in the field. These genotypes have greener stems at physiological maturity, potentially resulting in improvements in overall plant health, resistance to drought and pests, and standability. Research on inheritance of the stay green trait may provide valuable information to plant breeders for developing new cultivars with this important trait. This study was conducted to investigate inheritance of the stay green trait between two maintainer (HA234 and HA290) and between two restorer (RHA377 and RHA274) sunflower inbred lines. The inheritance study included parents, F₁, F₂, and backcross generations. Change in stem color was used as the criterion for the stay green characteristic. Color slide pictures of stems were taken at 10- to 15-d intervals in the field between flowering and physiological maturity, and stem color was analyzed by a computer program called Map and Image Processing System. Generation mean analysis indicated that additive effects were the main source of genetic variation for the stay green trait in both crosses. In addition to additive and dominance gene effects, additive x dominance epistatic effects contributed significantly to the variability in the restorer line cross. Since additive effects were predominant, selection for this trait could be made in early generation segregating populations. Significant but small correlation coefficients between stem color at physiological maturity and stem color at earlier stages of development indicated that selection for stay green would be most effective at physiological maturity.

Received for publication February 21, 1996.

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