Acta Agronomica Hungarica, 55(3), pp. 339–345 (2007) DOI: 10.1556/AAgr.55.2007.3.10 0238–0161/$ 20.00©2007 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest CORRELATIONS AND PATH ANALYSIS OF YIELD COMPONENTS IN SYNTHETIC VARIETIES OF SUNFLOWER (Helianthus annuus L.) A. T. GÖKSOY and Z. M. TURAN DEPARTMENT OF FIELD CROPS, FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE, ULUDAĞ UNIVERSITY, BURSA, TURKEY Received: 20 September, 2005; accepted: 14 December, 2006 This study was made in order to determine the correlations between seed yield and some yield components, and the direct and indirect effects of these characters on seed yield in sunflower. Four experimental synthetic varieties (Syn 1s), their parental mixtures (Syn Os) and two standard varieties (open pollinated: Vniimk 8931, and commercial hybrid: Sunbred-281) were evaluated in replicated field trials under Turkish conditions in 1995, 1996 and 1997. Agronomic characteristics such as plant height, head diameter, number of seeds per head, 1000-seed weight and seed yield were observed for correlations and path coefficient analysis. According to the results, seed yield gave significant positive correlations with plant height, head diameter, number of seeds per head and 1000-seed weight. The highest positive correlation was observed between seed yield and number of seeds per head (r= 0.890**). Path analysis indicated that the number of seeds per head gave the greatest direct effect (+0.7269) on seed yield, followed by 1000-seed weight (+0.3215) and head diameter (+0.1689). The percentage of direct effects on seed yield was 80.8%, 50.6% and 24.0% for number of seeds per head, 1000-seed weight and head diameter, respectively. Key words: sunflower, synthetic variety, yield components, correlation, path analysis Introduction Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is the most important oil crop in Turkey. It is grown on about 550,000 ha with an annual seed production of 800,000 tons. Demand for sunflower as both oilseed and unrefined oil has increased recently. Sunflower has been imported to satisfy the increasing demand for oilseed and unrefined oil for a long time. Sunflower seed production should be increased in order to reduce imports. Production can be increased by using modern cultural practices and breeding programmes. Higher yields depend on successful results in plant breeding