ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY BY USING AGROMORPHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN LOCAL SAFFLOWER GENOTYPES UNDER RAINFED CONDITIONS OF POTHOHAR, PAKISTAN

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is well known oilseed crop, cultivated in major pockets of the world for superior quality vegetable seed oil. Study under discussion was planned to review Safflower germplasm (thirty-six lines) for genetic divergence by using agro-morphological parameters in rainfed environment. The research was organized using complete randomized design having three repeats in the 2022-23 Rabi growing season at Gram Breeding Research Sub-Station, Attock. Findings from variance analysis were significant among genotypes with respect to days in flowers initiation, days for flower completion, days for maturity, plant height(cm), no. of capsules plant-1, no. of branches plant-1, 100 seed weight (g), plot yield, seed yield (kg/ha), oil contents (%), oil yield (kg/ha), biological yield (kg/ha), harvest index% and non-significant for days to maturity. The extent of Phenotypic variance co-efficient (PCV) was higher than Genotypic variance co-efficient (GCV) in almost all parameters. However, both values were same in biological yield and plot yield. Higher heritability together with higher genetic advance in biological yield, seed yield, and plot yield implied that genetic factors in comparison with environmental conditions are more effective and should be amenable to selection by breeders. As higher genetic variation was depicted in safflower germplasm for agro-morphological parameters. Therefore, it may be utilized in germplasm execution and potential safflower breeding objectives.