History, state and ways of development of sunflower breeding in the Saratov region (review)

The article presents information on the results of long-term effective work in the Federal Center of Agriculture Research of the South-East Region on sunflower breeding in the Saratov region. The main task facing breeders was to develop productive, precocious sunflower varieties resistant to local races of broomrape and sunflower moth. An invaluable contribution to the development of sunflower breeding was made by outstanding Russian breeders Plachek E.M., Zhdanov L.A., Morozov V.K., Pustovoit V.S., Pimakhin V.F., and others. They bred new highly productive sunflower varieties, being the main source for the production of edible oil that are widely distributed in the Volga region, Central Black Earth regions, Siberia and the Urals. For the first time, Saratov scientists conducted research in the field of heterosis breeding. They formed a large working collection of sunflowers, a genetic collection of marker traits, identified promising forms for subsequent stages of the breeding process, and developed a variety of initial material in the conditions of Saratov. The main focus is on developing almost isogenic lines, studying the genetic control of marker traits, determining the effects of the influence of genes on economically useful traits. Studies on the private genetics of sunflower have been carried out. Based on experimental data, ornamental sunflower varieties with flowers of various colors - Oreol, Raduga, and Solnechny salut were developed. For 2022, the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation includes the following varieties bred in the Federal Center of Agriculture Research of the South-East Region: Saratov 82, Saratov 85, Skoropely, Skoropely 87, Stepnoy 81, Lyubimchik, Saratov 20, Slastena and hybrids: Agrotex, Continent, Yubileyny 75, Everest, YuVS 2, YuVS 3, YuVS 4, YuVS 5, YuVS 7.