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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. 3 (2026)

Multivariate analysis of diverse safflower germplasm for genetic improvement of yield and yield related traits

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.15592
Submitted
17 May 2026
Published
24-09-2026 — Updated on 30-09-2026
Versions

Abstract

A set of 120 safflower germplasm obtained from ICAR-Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad was evaluated in an augmented block design (ABD) for seed yield and identification of trait specific germplasm in deep black soils. Data on six agro-morphological traits was recorded. Analysis of variance treatment adjusted (ANOVA) revealed highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits studied except for number of effective capitula/plant (EC). Considerable genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation was observed among the germplasm with higher values for 100-seed weight, effective number of capitula/plant and seed yield per plant (SYP). Significant positive correlation was observed between seed yield per plant and number of effective capitula/plant. The first four principal components contributed nearly 80 % of total variance. Principal component analysis (PCA)-biplots revealed days to 50 % flowering (DAF), days to maturity (DAM) and 100-seed weight as major contributor for PC-1. The D2 analysis was carried out and the genotypes were grouped into 9 clusters with 5th cluster being the largest with 27 genotypes. Early maturing genotypes were grouped into two clusters with 10 genotypes. GMU 1110 (26.27 g) and GMU 2232 (30.78 g) were superior in seed yield/plant over both the national checks A1 (19.46 g) and PBNS-12 (19.38 g). GMU 4128 is early maturing with duration of 115days and seed yield/plant of 23.11 g. While GMU 3773 and GMU 7351 were early maturing genotypes with seed yield on par with the national checks. Bold, seeded genotypes (GMU 3438 and GMU 4983) with test weight more than 6.0 g were identified. Superior genotypes for seed yield may be utilised as donors in safflower breeding program or subjected to multi-location testing to identify stable lines.

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