Progress over 20 years of sunflower breeding in central Argentina

This paper applies linear mixed model analysis to 122 on-farm trials of commercial and near-commercial sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) hybrids grown over 15 years in 32 locations of central Argentina to quantify increases in oil yield and to determine the contributions of change in both biotic stress resistance and yielding ability in favourable environments. The best linear unbiased predictors (BLUPs) from this analysis can be regarded as measures of ‘relative peak performance’ of hybrids in environments for which they were selected, and are a better measure of their adaptation compared to small trial sets of ‘historical’ hybrids. The BLUPs of 49 commercial hybrids released between 1983 and 2005 showed a genetic gain for oil yield of 11.9 kg ha−1 yr−1. Special purpose hybrids that were converted for single traits or that were developed for low-technology markets lagged by 5–15 years in terms of genetic gain. Genetic gains came about due to both an increase in the number of hybrids with resistance to the major biotic stress (Verticillium dahliae Klebahn) and a genetic gain in oil yield of 14.4 kg ha−1 yr−1 within these hybrids. Based on the data and the estimated time lag between commercial release and peak use, the improvement in oil and grain yield of conventional hybrids in central Argentina will be sustained until at least 2010, with evidence that the new germplasm pools still have substantial genetic variance to be exploited.