Biochemical and Molecular Characterization of Parents and its Crosses for High Oleic Acid Content in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

Abstract

Globally, Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of the most important cultivated oilseed crops. High oleic sunflower oil maintains oil stability also offers a trans-free oil solution for customers. They help in diminishing the cholesterol leading to a reduction in heart diseases. High oleic acid content genotypes have been developed whose oil has higher oxidative stability and better dietary properties than standard genotypes. An investigation was envisaged to evaluate 64 genotypes (seven CMS lines, seven restorer lines, 49 derived crosses and RSFH-1 hybrid as a check) using gas chromatography (GC) and molecular markers to identify high oleic acid associated genotypes. Total, five simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers were chosen for screening high oleic acid content genotypes, out of which only one marker N1-3F showed polymorphism between high and low oleic acid genotypes. Genotypes containing high-oleic acid were found A 1, A 2, A 4 and A 7 line in CMS, R 4, R 5, R 6 and R 7 lines in restorer, and A 1 x R 4, A 1 x R 5, A 2 x R 2, A 2 x R 4, A 2 x R 7, A 4 x R 2, A 4 x R 6 lines in derived crosses and marker N1-3F which has exhibited 749 bp band length and further, results were also confirmed by determining the fatty acid composition. The results of this work allowed to validation of one SSR marker in sunflower genotypes for high oleic acid trait.