College of Agriculture, Dharwad-580005
The yield decline for every unit increase in salinity was 3.81 per cent in safflower, but varied considerably among the varieties ranging from 0.81 percent (A. 300) to 6.07 per cent (S. 144). The reduction in yield was mainly due to decrease in head number on secondary branches and to a lesser extent of 100 seed weight and seed yield per head. A comparatively lower accumulation of sodium and relatively higher contents of potassium in the leaves was found to be associated with salt tolerance of safflower.
