The present investigation discusses the scope for transferring of resistance to leaf spot disease incited by Alternaria helianthi from two hexaploid wild species (H. tuberosus and H. resinosus) to diploid cultivated sunflower. Interspecific hybrids produced between sunflower and these two hexaploid species were partially fertile with tetraploid chromosome status. Backcrosses of these interspecific hybrids with cultivated sunflower resulted in the formation of sterile triploid plants. To overcome the problem of sterility and facilitate backcrosses with cultivated sunflower, anther culture of the tetraploid interspecific hybrids was carried out to bring down their chromosome number to diploid status. Anthers from both interspecific hybrids were cultured on basal Murashige and Skoog media supplemented with varying concentrations of organics and the growth regulators benzyladenine and naphthaleneacetic acid. Anthers of interspecific hybrids involving H. resinosus responded well and regenerated through an embryogenic route at a frequency of 98.7%. But in interspecific hybrids with H. tuberosus, anthers formed callus and subsequently regenerated shoots through an organogenic pathway. DNA ploidy analysis of anther culture plants of interspecific hybrids derived from H. tuberosus crosses was carried out to identify plants with desired diploid status. In vitro screening of parents, interspecific hybrids and anther culture plantlets against A. helianthi showed resistance in 68.5% of the anther culture plants of interspecific hybrids from H. tuberosus and in 24.3% of the plants derived from interspecific hybrids involving H. resinosus.

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A set of 250 distinct, stable, and uniform backcross-derived inbred lines were developed in sunflower through 5 interspecific cross combinations involving 4 wild diploid annual species (Helianthus argophyllus, H. petiolaris, H. annuus, and H. debilis). The presence of the wild-species genome in these inbred lines was confirmed through higher chromosome associations (tri- and quadrivalents) at diakinesis. Maximum structural rearrangements of chromosomes were observed in lines derived from H. petiolaris. Forty morphologically diverse inbred lines along with 2 controls were subjected to measurements of phenotypic and genetic distance using 118 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers of known map location. A total of 204 alleles were identified and the number of alleles per locus varied between 2 and 5. There were 46 unique alleles and the number of unique alleles was highest in the lines derived from the cross involving H. petiolaris. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.05 to 0.575. The pair-wise comparison values based on genetic dissimilarity estimates computed using molecular marker data varied between 0.143 and 0.486 among the 42 lines. The results indicate that the sunflower gene pool could benefit from introgression of novel alleles from the latent genetic diversity present in the wild species and particularly through exploitation of the diploid annual H. petiolaris.

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Co 11015 (Atulya) has been notified for cultivation in Tamil Nadu as a short duration variety in the 83 rd meeting of Central Sub Committee on Crop Standards, Notification, Government of India. This variety combines high cane yield and high sucrose content right from 8 months to 12 months of crop age. Co 11015 is evolved from the cross CoC 671 and Co 86011 at ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore. The clone showed a remarkably good performance in the clonal trials with clear superiority over the standards Co 86032 and CoC 671. In station trials, it recorded a cane yield of 135.70 t ha -1 , sucrose of 21.46 % and sugar yield of 20.09 t ha -1 at 360 days. Fig. 2. Morphological features of sugarcane short duration variety Co 11015