Identification of suitable safflower genotypes for the development of new cultivars with high seed yield, oil content and oil quality

This research was conducted at Applying Research Field, Faculty of Agriculture, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdağ in 2016. The experiment was conducted by Augmented Experimental Design consisting of three blocks of which every block had nineteen plots. In the study, 39 genotypes were obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and it was aimed to determine the superior ones of our local cultivars. For this purpose in the research, days to maturity, plant height, branch number, capsule number, capsule diameter, number of seeds per capsule, 1000 seed weight, hull content, seed yield, oil content, oil yield and fatty acid composition were investigated. According to the results, the capsule diameter ranged from 1.57 to 2.88 cm, number of seeds per capsule ranged from 2.67 to 76.25, 1000 seed weight ranged from 27.00 to 55.79 g, hull content ranged from 34.73 to 60.93%. In addition to, the most important breeding aims are oil content which ranged from 15.58 to 37.42% and seed yield ranged from 147.90 to 2349.90 kg ha-1. According to the study results, yield and yield characteristics of 39 genotypes were compared with 6 local cultivars and 10 genotypes superior to these were determined. These genotypes will be used as material in future breeding studies and will be tried to develop higher lines of seed yield and oil content.