Nehru, S. D.AKSHATA TIMMANNA, BUDIHAL2018-05-222018-05-222017-08-08Th-11762http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810047005Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of the most important oilseed crops in the world belonging to family Asteraceae with 2n=2x=34 chromosomes. It is extensively grown in Argentina, France, Spain, USA, China, Ukraine and India. It is primarily grown for edible oil which has high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids viz., linoleic and oleic acids and hence considered as good quality oil from the health point of view. It is also a good source of calcium, phosphorus, nicotinic acid and vitamin E (Aslam et al., 2010). Sunflower occupies the fourth place among oilseed crops in terms of acreage and production. In India, sunflower is grown over an area of 5.2 lakh hectares with a production and productivity of 3.35 lakh tonnes and 0.64 t ha-1, respectively (Anon., 2016). Sunflower crop is being grown over 70 per cent across Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. In Karnataka, it occupies an area of about 3.6 lakh hectare with a production of 2.1 lakh tonnes and productivity of 0.57 t ha-1 (Anon., 2016).ennullThesis