New sunflower hybrids tolerant of tribenuron-methyl

Abstract

Discovery of a tribenuron-methyl resistant wild Helianthus annuus L. population (ANN-KAN) reated an opportunity for expansion of a sunflower herbicide resistance breeding program. The aim of this work was the creation of sunflower hybrids resistant to tribenuron-methyl. Creation of tribenuron-methyl resistant hybrids would enable the use of a wider palette of herbicides for sunflower, more efficient chemical control of Cirsium arvense and more economically profitable post-emergence control of some annual broad-lea weeds in sunflower. Original populations SURES-1 and SURES-2 are homozygous for resistance to tribenuron-methyl. F1 generations produced from the crossings are completely resistant to tribenuron-methyl, pointing to the dominant way of inheritance of this trait. Studies on the exact number of genes controlling the resistance are in progress. Tribenuron-methyl resistance was transferred from original populations into a number of mother and restorer inbred lines of cultivated sunflower. These inbred lines could enable creation of a number of hybrids resistant to tribenuron-methyl. Hybrids NS-H-2017-SU, NS-H-2018-SU and NS-H-2019-SU are resistant to doubled application dose of tribenuronmethyl. Agronomical characteristics of these hybrids are on the level with the leading conventional sunflower hybrids.