Performance of five mexican safflower varieties/breeding lines under Indian conditions

Abstract

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) a drought tolerant crop, is capable of extracting moisture from deeper layers of soil. In India, more than 80% of safflower is cultivated in Vertisols of Peninsular region during post-rainy season under residual soil moisture conditions. Five Mexican varieties/breeding lines (Ciano-Lin, CCC-B4, RC-1033-L, CCC-B2 and CW-99) were evaluated in 2014-15 under irrigated conditions along with two Indian varieties (NARI-57 and PBNS-12). Significant variation was found between Mexican varieties/breeding lines and Indian varieties with respect to plant height, days to first flower, total number of capitulum/plant, seed yield, biological yield, oil content and oil yield. Seed and oil yield of CCC-B2 (2259; 800 kg/ha) was significantly on par with that of NARI-57 (2298; 719 kg/ha). The Ciano-Lin recorded significantly low seed (1266 kg/ha) and oil yield (399 kg/ha).