Genetic variability, heritability and genetic gain for some morpho-agronomic characters in safflower under rainfed conditions

.The present investigation was carried out to determine genetic variability and the estimates of genetic parameters for seed oil content, seed yield and the agronomical characters in safflower genotypes. A lattice experiment 8 × 8 was conducted in Dry-land Agricultural Research Station, Kermanshah during the year 2007. Quantitative and qualitative traits including flower color, spine and spineless, days to start and completion of flowering (DSF, DCF) , days to maturity (DM), plant height (PH), main and lateral head diameter per plant (MHD/P, LHD/P) , number of heads per plant (H/P) , number of secondary branches per plant (SB), number of seeds per head (S/H), kernel thousand weight (TKW), seed yield (SY), seed oil content (% Oil), and oil yield (OY) were measured. Analysis of variance showed that safflower genotypes were significantly different for all of the characteristics. Mean and variation range were for seed yield and %Oil, 1262 and 719-1797 Kg/ha, 27 and 19-34%, respectively. The highest oil yield belonged to genotypes G16, G19, G33, and G63 (more of 450 Kg/ha). Highest phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation were obtained for H/P, OY, SB, and SY, respectively. The highest estimates of broad sense heritability were noted for TKW, DM and %Oil, respectively (60-80%). The characters DM and TKW showed high heritability (h2bs) coupled with high genetic gain indicating that these plant traits can be further improved through individual plant selection. Co-heritability estimates showed that oil yield (OY) with DSF to be highest, followed by that with PH, SB and H/P, respectively. Based on Ward cluster method genotypes were classified into five groups. Genotypes those were superior for %Oil and SY grouped in cluster I and II, respectively.

کلیدواژه ها:

Carthamus tinctorius L. ، Agronomy traits ، Genetic parameters ، Dry land ، Heritability