Effect of foliar spray of different growth regulators on yield and yield attributes of safflower

Four different growth regulators were evaluated on safflower, cv. Bhima to study the effect on yield and yield contributing characters. Application of 10 ppm kinetin at 20 DAS stage was found significantly superior for seed yield and other characters like number of branches per plant, number of capitula per plant, number of seeds per capitula. Seed oil content was significantly higher with 10 ppm kinetin applied at 30 DAS stage. TIBA although inhibited stem elongation showed significant increase in yield and yield contributing characters. The other treatments like 50 ppm GA and 1 per cent SA applied at 30 DAS stage, showed inckased seed yield by 6.74 and 4.24 per cent over control. The increase in seed yield by application of growth regulators was attributed to the increase in characters like number of branches per plant, number of capitula per plant and harvest index.