Evaluation of Iranian and foreign genotypes of safflower for seed yield, Exotic Yield components and oil yield

To determinate the best foreign safflower cultivars with high seed yield and oil content, an experiment was conducted on eight foreign cultivars Hartman, kino 76, Sonora 92,Bacun-92, Saff-891, monte-81 ,CW86 and Sidwill together with two Iranian cultivars Goldasht and S-55 in Bojnourd during 2009-2010 cropping season using a randomized complete block design with four replications. Some agronomic traits such as head number per plant, seed per head, plant height, days to flowering and days to maturity were recorded during the growth period and 1000 seeds weight, seed yield and yield and oil yield were measured traits. The highest seed yield (1056 kgha-1) and oil yield (340 kgha-1) were produced by Goldasht cultivar. Significant and positive correlations were found between seed yield and seed oil, number of secondary branches and plant height. Cluster analysis based on these traits, grouped the Iranian and foreign cultivar in separates clusters.