Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) Mutants in Comparison with Commercially Released Cultivars in Iran

Considering the adaptability and importance of the safflower for the production of oilseeds in Iran, this research was conducted to evaluate and investigate of main agronomic traits in 12 mutant lines, produced in the National Research Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology along with Sina, Faraman, Omid, Sofeh, Goldasht, Golmehr, Parnian and Padideh cultivars. The project was carried out as a complete randomized block design in three replications under rainfed conditions during the crop season 2021-2022 in the Dryland Agricultural Research Institute-Sararood, Kermanshah, Iran. The results of variance analysis for all measured traits showed significant differences between cultivars and mutants at the probability level of 1%. The highest and lowest weight of 1000 seeds in this research was related to the Faraman cultivar (40.65 g) and Safeh (23.47 g), respectively. The first to third highest seed yield was observed in the Omid and Sina and Mutant No. 8 respectively with an average of 267.3, 242.2 and 233.3 kg/ha. The lowest yield belonged to Padideh and Golmehr cultivars (65.3 and 73.4 kg/ha, respectively).