Genotype and Intra-Row Spacing Effects on Seed Yield of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) Under Winter Conditions of Central Sudan

The introduction of any new crop to an area requires information concerning its performance under the local environmental conditions. The goals of the experiment were to investigate the effects of genotype and intra-row spacing on seed yield, yield components, of ten safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) genotypes. This field experiment was conducted at two sites in central Sudan, the field of the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in Nisheishiba and the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Abu Hraz, University of Gezira, Wad Medani, Sudan, during the winter seasons of 2007/08 and 2008/09. The factorial treatments were arranged in split plot design with three intra-spacings (30, 40, and 50cm) as main plots and the ten genotypes as sub-plots with four replications. Seed yield (kg/ha), seed yield per plant (g), head diameter, number of heads per plant and 100-seed weight (g), According to the results, the measured traits were affected by genotypes and to some extent by spacing with non-significant effects of genotypes x spacings. The highest number of capitula per plant (95) was shown by genotypes 1 and 5 while the lowest (21) was shown by genotypes 2 and 4. Genotype 4 showed the largest capitulum diameter while genotype 1 showed the smallest. Genotype 1 gave the highest number of capitula/plant, the smallest capitulum diameter. Across locations, the highest 100-seed weight was given by genotype 4 (6.4g) while the lowest was recorded by genotypes 2 and 1 (3.9g). Genotype 4 gave the largest capitulum diameter, indicating that seed weight and capitulum diameter were positively related, while seed weight and number of capitula / plant were inversely associated. The highest yielding genotypes were 10, 6, 1 and 3 respectively, with across seasons and sites. Their seed yields per hectare were 1953, 1777, 1726 and 1725 kg respectively. The highest yielding genotype (genotype 10) was recommended for further improvement under the conditions of hand harvesting while genotype number 6 was suggested to be grown when mechanical harvesting is possible under Sudan dry conditions.