Evaluation of germplasm collection of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius and C. oxycantha) in dryland conditions of Iran

Abstract

Knowles [1] denoted that the Middle East as the center of origin for cultivated safflower. Ashri [2] divided this center of orgin in to three regions: Iran, Afghanistan, Near East and Turkey. The objective of this study was to determine the variability among a germplasm collection in Iran for yield and some other characters in dryland conditions, to determine the grouping of genotypes in different clusters and to identify the desirable parental genotypes for exploitation in crossing programme between cultivated genotypes as well as cultivated ones with wild genotypes of safflower aimed at improving seed yield for the dryland conditions of Iran.