Effect of petals harvesting time on seed and petal yield in the cultivars of spring safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), adapted to arid and semi arid regions, is grown for seed and petal production. This research, conducted at Research Farm of Zanjan University, was aimed to select the best genotype for seed and petal production using a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The first factor included the harvesting time of petals at two levels including petal harvesting in the beginning of the flowering and petal harvesting after pollination and petals wilting. The second factor included different genotypes of safflower at five levels (Goldasht, Sina, Zendehrod, MEC88, and MEC59). The traits investigated in this study included number of petals per plant, number of seeds per petal, 1000-seed weight, seed and petal yield and petals color. According to the obtained results, the highest seed and petal yield were obtained for MEC88 genotype; however, its petals were pale yellow and not suitable for petal production. The harvesting time of petals had no significant effects on seed yield but delayed harvesting of petals caused to the reduction of petal yield. Number of capitol per plant showed a positive and significant correlation with seed and petals yield. Among the studied genotypes, Zendehrod cultivar is very suitable for dual-purpose cultivation and Goldasht cultivar is suitable for petal production due to the dark red petals.