• Soybean germplasm evaluation: Nutritive grain quality under climate change conditions
• Genotypic selection of peas under climate change
• Innovative strategies for early stress detection and increasing maize tolerance to cold stress
• Legumes as a source of biologically active phytochemicals
• Breeding development of alfalfa and red clover germplasm adapted to climate changes
• Predictive modelling of agronomic traits in maize using modern technologies
• Assessment of quantitative traits in small grain cereals germplasm considering climate change
• The role of genetic specificity, plant growth regulators, and biostimulants in increasing the resistance to abiotic and biotic stress, yield, and quality of sour cherry fruit
• The influence of climate changes on the expression of the most important agronomic, physiological and biochemical traits of sunflower under conditions of different plant density
• Influence of combined abiotic stresses and climatic oscillations on production and quality of seed
• Water, soil and cultivar – fundamental elements of sustainable agriculture in climate change

Full project title

The influence of climate changes on the expression of the most important agronomic, physiological and biochemical traits of sunflower under conditions of different plant density

Project acronym

SUNEKS

Lead researcher

Anto Mijić, PhD, Senior Scientific Advisor

Project team members

1. Aleksandra Sudarić, PhD, Senior Scientific Adviser, Agricultural Institute Osijek
2. Ivica Liović, PhD, Senior Scientific Adviser, Agricultural Institute Osijek
3. Antonela Markulj Kulundžić, PhD, Scientific Associate, Agricultural Institute Osijek
4. Branimir Šimić, PhD, Scientific Adviser

Project financing source

National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 within the framework of the Program Agreement with the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth

Project budget

29.449,00 EUR

Project summary

The expression of each individual trait of sunflower is determined by the hybrid, environmental factors and the interaction hybrid x environment. Environmental factors often limit the production of sunflowers, of which climate, i.e. weather, soil and agricultural techniques should be highlighted. Weather conditions, both on a global level and in the agro-ecological conditions of Croatia, are evidently changing. All longer dry periods were recorded, but also an excessive amount of precipitation on a daily and weekly level. Average monthly temperatures are continuously higher, and daily maximum temperatures often exceed 35^oC. In such changed agroecological conditions, the need to assess the agronomic, physiological and biochemical traits of sunflower, hybrid x environment interaction, the correlation of agronomic, physiological and biochemical traits, stability and adaptability in several consecutive seasons, and in this connection the selection of new materials for future cycles of selection is emphasized. Likewise, the intense variability of agroecological parameters in the short and long term has recently emphasized the issue of the relationship of plants in diferent plant density. The results of the project would be presented in the form of scientific and professional papers, book/monograph and presentations at scientific and professional meetings. The preliminary research carried out during 2023 indicates the justification of this research that fits into the Strategy of the work and development of the Agricultural Institute Osijek.

Project aims

The project’s main aim is to determine the extent of the change in agroecological conditions and its connection to the modified abiotic stress reflecting the phenotypic expression of sunflower’s most important agronomic, physiological and biochemical properties. This aim will be achieved through:

1. determining the value of agronomic, physiological and biochemical traits,
2. determining the hybrid x environment interaction for the investigated traits,
3. determining the correlation of individual traits, above all between agronomic, physiological and biochemical ones,
4. determining the stability and adaptability of individual traits,
5. selection of hybrids that can represent new breeding material for future cycles of selection to create better hybrids for the processing industry,
6. determining the extent to which the plant density affects agronomic, physiological and biochemical traits.

Additional aims of the project are:

7. write scientific papers and publish them in scientific journals, primarily ranked in the SCOPUS and WoS databases (A1 papers),
8. actively participate in scientific and professional meeetings with research results,
9. write and publish a scientific book/monograph about sunflower,
10. strengthen scientific capacities,
11. strengthen the scientific and research infrastructure, increase the number of competitive projects at the Agricultural Institute Osijek.