Planta Med 2009; 75 - PB40
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1234452

Yield components and oil content of safflower in Eastern Algeria

M Bouhouhou 1, SM Mohamed 2, EA Omer 2, M Bensari 1
  • 1Genetics, Biochemistry and Plant Biotechnologies Laboratory – University Mentouri, Constantine, 25000 Algeria
  • 2Department of Cultivation and Production of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, NRC, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a member of the family Asteraceae, cultivated mainly for its seed, which is used as edible oil and as birdseed. Traditionally, the crop was grown for its flowers, used for coloring, flavoring foods, making dyes (carthamidin and carthamin), and in medicine. Since safflower is a drought tolerant crop, the objective of this research was the investigation of the seed yield and oil content of safflower under semi-arid conditions in eastern Algeria.

The results showed that SYPRUS variety gave the highest seeds number per plant (800.17) and yield of seeds (420.53g/m2). While OT-455 variety gave the highest weight of one hundred seeds (4.44g). Considering the yield of the fixed oil (% of seeds), GILA variety produced the highest percentage (38.47%). The research revealed that the most suitable safflower variety, under semi-arid conditions of eastern Algeria was SYPRUS variety which's providing from ICARDA (International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, Syria). Analyses of variance (ANOVA) showed highly significant differences among the varieties for yield components and oil content. Correlation coefficients between variables (5 traits) are calculated, and the cluster analysis of observations (varieties) is also used to clarify the clustering pattern of genotypes tested.