General and Specific Combining Ability of some Sunflower Inbred Lines and Restorers

In order to produce new hybrids and evaluate the general and specific combining ability of sunflower inbred lines and restorers, four inbred lines and six restorers were selected in 2004. Twenty-four F1 hybrids were derived in 2004 and evaluated on a RCBD design with three replications in 2005. The results of variance analysis showed that treatments were significantly different for all traits except grain yield. RHa107F81-127/2 × Aha107F81-240 , Azargol and RHa107F81-127/2 × AHa107F81-30 had the highest grain yield with 4471, 4274 and 4131 kgha-1, respectively. Variance analysis of combining ability by design II of Comstock and Robinson showed that general combining ability of restorers and inbred lines for grain yield was not significant. Rha107F81-127/2 restorer and AhaF81-120 inbred had the greatest general combining ability for grain yield. The results generally showed that male parents or restorers play important role to produce hybrid cultivars and Rha107F81-127/2 has a good potential to be applied in breeding programs.