Basics of sunflower breeding with increased con-tent of saturated fatty acids in oil

The article is dedicated to the need to find alternative sources of solid confectionery fats. At present, all natural solid vegetable fats are obtained from tropical oils, since the high percentage of satu-rated fatty acids in their content causes their solid state at room temperature. However, a number of problems in the production of tropical vegetable oils, the nega-tive impact of some saturated fatty acids on human health, the limited area of cultivation, the decline in bi-odiversity, the disturbance of the ecosystem of tropical forests due to the intensification of production, the high cost of cocoa butter and its natural tropical analogues require the search for alternative oils with a high con-tent of saturated fatty acids. Traditional oil crops of the temperate zone contain mainly unsaturated fatty acids. In the Russian Federation, the main oil crop is sun-flower. The possibility of increasing the content of sat-urated fatty acids in sunflower oil appeared after the discovery of high-palmitic and high-stearic mutations. A number of scientists have been involved in the de-velopment of high saturated fatty acid donors. Genetic control has also been studied and recessive inheritance of increased stearic and palmitic fatty acid content in sunflower has been established. However, despite the depth of theoretical studies conducted, the issue of de-veloping high-yielding sunflower hybrids with high content of saturated fatty acids is still relevant.