DIMENSION, GEOMETRIC, AGRICULTURAL AND QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF SAFFLOWER SEEDS

This research was carried out in the research field of Agricultural Faculty, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. Field experiments were carried out in two growing seasons (2011 and 2012) according to “Randomized Complete Block Design” with three replications. In the study, a total of 13 promised safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) lines (A13, A29, C12, E12, F4, F5, F6, G16, H3, J19, Y1-8-14-1, AOL-2(2), DP 1.5.8-1) and 5 cultivars (Black Sun1, KS 06 and Oleic Leed, Dinçer, Remzibey) were used as material. Oil content of the safflower genotypes were ranged in between 24.05-33.18%. The highest protein content value was obtained from J19 line (21.72%) while the lowest was found on the Turkish cultivar of Remzibey (16.03%). Negative correlations were found for oil content and hull thickness (r=-0.3152**), hull ratio (r=-0.7122**) and pappus ratio (r=-0.3408**). Protein content was found as significantly and negative correlated with some characters, similar to the seed widness (r = -0.2546**), seed thickness (r=-0.1918*), geometric diameter (r=-0.3194**), seed surface area (r=-0.3119**), pappus ratio (r=-0.3114**) and 100-seed weight (r=-0.2597), respectively. According to the results, increasing the dimension and geometrical values cause to a decrease in the oil and protein content of safflower seeds. Quality components (oil and protein content) showed negative correlations with both of pappus rate and hull features