) INTRODUCTIONPakistan edible oil has growing importanceduring the last two decades.
It is of concern to meet consumption requirementsof growing population, the government has not only efforts for increase in itsdomestic production but also spent too much money for edible oil imports(Ghaffar et al., 1998). Thereare four major edible oilseed crops in Pakistan that are cottonseed, sunflower,rapeseed and canola. Total available edible oil during2015-16 was at 3.726 million tons of which local production contributed 0.462million tons from all sources which is 14 % of the total consumption and therest 86% is imported from other countries and spending Rs. 284.546 billionevery year.
Sunflower ranked 2ndposition for oil production (Govt. of Pakistan, 2016-17). Sunflower is a most important edible oilseed crop,it is grown over a extensive area. Ithas high phenotypic adaptability that can be grown in all environments forproduction of grains and also for crop rotation. Sunflower oil has lighttaste and appearance and it containsmore vitamin E than any other vegetable (Zaidi et al., 2012).Genetic diversity provides a chance for plant breeders to improve anddevelop new cultivars with desirable characteristics, which includefarmer-preferred traits like yield potential and large seed, etc.
and breederspreferred traits like pest and disease resistance and photosensitivity, etc.From the beginning of agriculture, natural genetic variability has beenexploited within crop species to meet major food necessity, and now it is beingfocused to extra food for growing populations. Availability and access to various genetic sourceswill ensure that the worldwide food production network becomes more sustainable(Govindraj et al., 2014). Plant growthplays a key role in the functioning of biosphere (Rees et al., 2010). Analysisof growth is an descriptive, holistic and integrative approach to interpretingplant form and function.
It uses simple initial data in the form of weights, areas,volumes and contents of plant components to examine processes within and includingthe whole plant. It is now a broadly used tool in such various fields as plantbreeding, plant physiology and plant ecology (Poorter and Garnier, 1996).Improvementin the productivity largely depends on the tendency and intensity ofassociation between yield component and seed quality traits. Correlationcoefficient quantify interactions between different seed and plant traits anddetermines the constituent character whichcan help in the selection. Hence, an understanding of degree of associationwith seed yield and interrelationship among themselves is essential to bring animprovement in crop productivity (Uttam etal., 2006).
Objectives1. Determinationof genetic variability among sunflower accessions for seedling parameters2. Developmentof selection criteria on the base of interrelationship among seedling traits3. Growthanalysis in different sunflower accessions