The relation between the heterosis effect of hybrids and genetic distance of sunflower parental lines

The present research studies the heterosis effect of F 1 hybrids, genetic diversity of parental lines on the basis of SSR markers, as well as the relation of genetic distance and combining ability of sunflower. Ten sunflower elite inbred lines (3 Rf-lines and 7 CMS-lines) and their hybrids were studied for plant height, productivity, thousand-seed weight, oil content and huskiness of seeds. Field tests were carried out during 5-6 years. The genetic distance between sunflower parental lines ranged from 0.45 to 0.74. The significant positive correlation was found between the heterosis effect for seed yield of hybrids (r = 0.79, p