Genetic divergence for morphological traits in safflower (Carthmus tinctorius L.)

An experiment with 50 safflower genotypes was conducted at Research Farm of College of Agriculture, Pune in 2010–11 in randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that the differences among genotypes were highly significant for all of the traits studied. Wide range of PCV and GCV were observed for number of primary branches plant⁻¹, number of secondary branches plant⁻¹, number of capitula plant⁻¹, number of effective capitula plant⁻¹. Higher heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for biomass. On the basis of D² statistics, genotypes were grouped into 11 clusters. Days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, number of primary branches plant⁻¹, number of secondary branches plant⁻¹ and number of capitula plant⁻¹ were identified as potential variables which can be used in hybridization programme.