Evaluation of Sunflower Hybrids Variability in Response to Drought Stress: Implications for Oil and Protein Content Optimization

Oilseed crops are third most important for human being after cereals and sugars. Sunflower is a vital oilseed crop, which is grown globally for its oil purposes. Sunflower seeds are also the most important protein source. Sunflower contains two primary protein types: water-soluble albumins and salt-soluble globulins. The genotype plays a crucial role in determining the fatty acid composition of oil. However, environmental factors like water availability and temperature fluctuations during the grain-filling stage can also significantly impact on oil content. That’s why this study was aimed to investigate the impact of water deficit environments on seed yield and related traits of sunflower hybrids. In this study seven sunflower hybrids (SF-177, Pl-64 A 93, Hysun-33, Hysun-39, US-666, FSS-64 and Agsun-5264) were sown according to RCBD by using three replications. Data was recorded days taken to initiation of flowering, plant height, 1000 seed weight, oil content and protein content. Results showed that drought stress adversely affected all the parameters in this experiment, but some hybrids perform better for yield and oil content under drought conditions. Such as hybrid SF-177 and Hysun-39 represented least difference in 1000 achenes weight under normal and drought conditions. Hybrid FSS-64 (44.33%) and Hysun-33 (43.66%) showed highest oil content under drought conditions. While hybrid Agsun-5264 and Hysun-39 showed maximum protein content under drought stress.