Heat Tolerance and Adaptability to Drought in Sunflower Can Be Influenced by Pollen Selection

The heat tolerance and adaptability to drought of F sporophytic populations after F sunflower pollen heating have been studied. Freshly collected pollen was heated at the temperature of 60°C during 1 and 3 h and used to self-pollinate the emasculated F plants. Half of F seeds were treated with the temperature of 60°C during 15 min before sowing while another was not subjected to high temperature. The number of F flowering plants during 2013 dry summer season was counted. Pollen treatments compared with the control (fresh pollen) significantly increased the number of F plants after seed heating before sowing. In some F hybrids, pollen heating during 1 h was not effective. Pollination of F hybrids with pollen treated with the temperature of 60°C during 1 h compared with fresh pollen increased the number of F plants in dry field conditions. Obtained results show that pollen selection was successful to increase the heat tolerance and adaptability to drought in sunflower.