Evaluation of genotypic variation of sunflower inbred lines for agronomic traits under cold rainfed conditions using multiple factor analyses

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is one of the valuable agricultural and industrial crops which cultivates in many parts of world. This study was aimed to evaluate the genetic variation of 31spinyand spinless safflower genotypes provided from Dryland Agricultural Research Institute based on agronomic and morphological characteristics in cold rainfed conditions of Maragheh.The genotypes were evaluated in randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Descriptive statistics manifested the existence of genetic variability in the studied germplasm and the least amount of genetic diversity was belong to days to 50% flowering and days to maturity. Using principal component analysisshowed that 6 components explained 91 percent of total variation. Biplot based on principal component analysis and dendrograms of cluster analysis revealed that all genotypeswere classified into2 groups. Maximum value of Mahalanobis distance between groups was 5.05.It can be concluded that there is remarkable genetic variability among safflower genotypesin cold rainfed conditions, which could be utilized in the screening of desirable parents and genotypes for safflower breeding programs.