Philippine Journal of Science
150 (5): 1255-1264, October 2021
ISSN 0031 – 7683
Date Received: 01 Mar 2021

 

Agro-morphological Characterization and Fatty Acid
Composition Analysis of Selected Sunflower Accessions

Christine Joy S. Manalili^1,2, Erick Allain C. Flores¹,
Paula Blanca V. Gaban^1,3, and John Dave C. Aquino^1,2,3*

¹University Research Center, Research and Extension,
Central Luzon State University Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija 3120 Philippines
²Department of Crop Science, College of Agriculture, Central Luzon State University
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija 3120 Philippines
³Science Education Institute, Department of Science and Technology
Bicutan, Taguig City 1630 Philippines

*Corresponding author: jdaveaquino@clsu.edu.ph

 

ABSTRACT

Sunflower is one of the most important oil crops, with the essential fatty acids of its oil considered to be important in the human diet. Various sunflower accessions necessitate morphological and oil research. This study evaluates the agro-morphological characteristics of sunflower using the guidelines developed by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). Moreover, it also assessed the distinctness, uniformity, and stability among accessions through the agglomerative clustering method, with the morphological diversity estimated using the Shannon-Weiner diversity index that ranges from low to moderate. A significant relationship was observed between pollen diameter and sunflower oil. Twenty (20) accessions were extracted to determine the oil content and fatty acid composition using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Out of 20 sunflower germplasms, 18 accessions had oil extracted. CLSF20 obtained the highest amount of extracted oil. GC-MS analysis revealed that CL-SF14 has 71.5% oleic acid, 6.86% palmitic acid, and the lowest polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid (P/S) index of 0.4228.