Evaluation of Genetic Diversity in 273 Safflower Genotypes Collected from Different Regions of the World

Safflower (Carthamus tictorius) is one of the oldest domesticated plants in the world, which is mainly cultivated as an oil seed in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Given the climatic conditions of the world where water scarcity is always limiting cultivation, the importance of drought tolerant plants such as safflower will be very high. The basis of genetic modification of cultivars is based on creating diversity and using genetic diversity. In this study, we will investigate the genetic diversity of genotypes collected from different parts of the world in order to identify superior genotypes and identify effective relationships between traits.

This study aimed to investigate 273 diverse safflower genotypes collected from different parts of the world during the crop season 2020-2021, in the form of augmented design with five controls of Goldasht, Sofeh, Parnian, Faraman and Golmehr, which are all introduced cultivars. Various traits such as seed yield, plant height, 1000-seed weight, oil percentage, number of sub-branches, flowering date, boll diameter, prickly and flower color were recorded.

The results showed the existence of high diversity in terms of all traits evaluated so that genotypes with more than 40% oil (genotypes 190, 226 and 227) and genotypes with more seed yield and earlier than the controls were observed. For example, code 187: with 100 days until flowering, code 167: with 105 days until flowering and code 37: with 106 days until flowering, were earlier than Goldasht with 113 days until flowering. The results of principal component analysis showed that the first three components were able to explain more than 50% of the changes. The first component explained 21%, the second component 18% and the third component 12%. The results of component correlation analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between many traits that can be used in the modification process. The most important of them are the relationship between flower color and oil percentage, as well as the relationship between 1000-seed weight and oil percentage.

In general, the results showed that the diversity of safflower genetic material can provide targeted breeding activities.