Path analysis was done on some crop characteristics of 64 safflower genotypes to determine the direct and indirect effects of some morphological traits on seed yield. The field trial was performed as a simple lattice design and some morphological traits, including leaf area, dry weight of plant, plant height, main and lateral capitulum diameter, number of capitulum per plant, number of seeds per capitulum, thousand-seed weight, oil percent, biological yield and seed yield were measured. Correlation coefficient analysis revealed seed yield was positively correlated with all the traits except thousand-seed weight. Path analysis determined the number of capitulum per plant and number of seeds per capitulum, as important first order traits that influenced seed yield. All direct effects were significant, as indicated by bootstrap analysis. Also, leaf area, dry weight of plant and thousand-seed weight as the second order variables and plant height, oil percent, lateral capitulum diameter and total biomass as the third order variables were identified. The results suggest that the number of capitulum per plant and number of seeds per capitulum could be used as a selection criterion in selecting for increased seed yield in safflower.
