Reaction of safflower selected world- wide germplasm and inter-specific derived lines to Fusarium root rot disease

Among the oilseed plants, safflower has a special place, for production under climate change conditions. One of the main problems of safflower cultivation is fungal attack, which ultimately reduces crop yield. Studies have shown that Fusarium solani is the cause of the disease. Fifty six safflower genotypes were evaluated for their response to Fusarium root rot in a completely randomized block design with three replications in greenhouse conditions. The response was assessed by measuring traits such as mortality rate, length of necrosis zone in roots, number of viable plants, dry root weight, and dry weight of aerial area, stem height and stem diameter. The results showed that there is a high negative correlation between the mean necrosis length on the root and the number of live plants in the greenhouse. Genotypes were divided into 5 groups (resistant, relatively resistant, tolerant, sensitive, and relatively sensitive). The most resistant genotypes were Padideh, Golmehr, and P. Kose was evaluated as susceptible genotype. Since the wild species of C. palaestinus (P) and some genotypes resulting from its interspecies had the highest survival rate and the lowest necrosis length and mortality rate and on the other hand, this species is the most similar in terms of agronomic traits to the domestic species, the use of this species and the lines resulting from its interspecies to create disease-resistant cultivars could be recommended.