Variability of morphological characters among ornamental sunflower collection

Abstract

The research describes the field comparison of 81 decorative sunflower genotypes. In order to assess genetic diversity of sunflower genotypes the studies were conducted in the field conditions during 2010-2015 at the Institute of Field and Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia. The genetic diversity of species Helianthus annuus L. has enabled the breeding work in the direction of the decorating and plant landscaping. Depending on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics, production of decorative sunflowers can be divided into three directions. The first line is for the production of cut flowers, the second one is for garden production and the third line is for the production of pot plants. The direction of production dictates the main breeding objectives, which may include: plant architecture, the color of ray and disc flowers and duration of flowering. Investigation of the genetic variability of ornamental sunflowers relies on quantitative traits of which the greatest variability was observed in branching and plant height, which are also the most important qualities for production. The quantitative characteristics of decorative sunflowers have been examined on the basis of 81 samples.