ناصر صباغ نیا

The diversity among 64 safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) genotypes was evaluated by 13 agro-morphological traits in the experimental field at Maragheh, Iran. Significant differences among safflower genotypes in all of the measured traits i.e. leaf area, dry weight of plant, plant height, main capitulum diameter, lateral capitulum diameter, number of capitulum per plant, number of seeds per capitulum, 1000-seed weight, oil percent, seed yield, harvest index and oil yield. Ward’s minimum variance cluster analysis based on squared Euclidian distance on the raw data of 13 agronomic traits clearly separated 12 clusters. In general, cluster analysis of the 64 genotypes based on the selected agronomic traits was consistent with known information. In general, groups G-8, G-9 and G-10 had the high values for safflower the measured traits while groups G-6 and G-12 had the moderate values and the other remained groups had the low values. Our plant materials could be important germplasm resources for enriching the genetic background of commercial safflower cultivars. Such genetic differences of safflower traits studied in this investigation can be applied as a new source of variation in other breeding programs and crossing nurseries in breeding program.