New sunflower hybrids promise higher yields and oil content for farmers.
The researchers studied sunflower plants to see how different combinations of parent plants affected traits like seed yield and oil content. They found that certain parent plants were good at passing on desirable traits, leading to high-performing hybrids. Traits like capitulum diameter and 100-seed weight were strongly linked to seed yield. Plants with tall height, large capitulum size, high seed filling, and heavy seeds were best for improving seed yield and oil content.