Scientific justification of agricultural practices for increasing the productivity of sunflower maternal forms and hybrids

The success of breeding programs for new sunflower hybrids depends on breeders developing highly productive selfpollinated lines. These lines play a key role in providing a commercial product with the characteristics required by modern agricultural production, such as high yield, disease and broomrape resistance, and improved agronomic qualities. The aim of the research to scientifically justify agricultural practices that increase the productivity of maternal forms (at the hybridization plot) and hybrids based on them, improve sunflower cultivation technology, and increase the efficiency of domestic seed production. The research was conducted from 2021 to 2024 at the farm "Berezanskoye" in the Korenovsky District of the Krasnodar Region, as well as at V. S. Pustovoit AllRussian Research Institute of Oil Crops (VNIIMK) in Krasnodar. The object of study was sunflower parental forms (VK 1sur A and ED 33 A) and hybrids based on them (Surus and Grant), which were bred at VNIIMK. The research was conducted in two stages. The first stage involved studying the effect of agricultural practices (fertilizer application, plant protection against diseases, and seeding rate) on the productivity of the maternal forms of the hybrids at a seed production plot. The second stage consisted of evaluating the yield characteristics of the hybrids obtained at the hybridization plot in different combinations with two seeding rates (60 and 80 thousand pcs/ha). The experiments were conducted according to the methodology developed at VNIIMK. When fertilizers were applied to hybridization plots, the highest seed yield of maternal forms was obtained. The productivity of hybrids was also high when fertilizers were combined with chemical and biological plant protection against diseases. To obtain the highest yield of hybrids (up to 3.95 t/ha) when growing seed material, it is necessary to consider weather conditions, including water availability, and develop cultivation technology that includes scientifically justified agricultural practices.