Managing the U.S. safflower collection

V. L. Bradley and R. C. Johnson

Abstract

            There are currently 2,288 accessions of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) in the United States germplasm collection.  The collection is maintained at the Western Regional Plant Introduction Station in Pullman, WA, USA.  Major objectives in managing the collection include providing high quality seed and useful documentation and evaluation data to the germplasm user community.   Accessions from the collection are distributed to scientists worldwide upon request and at no charge.  Accessions must be regenerated when seed quantity or quality is low.  In past regeneration nurseries, as many as 15 plants within a plot were covered with a single 1.25 meter-long, unsupported, screen bag.  This practice reduced the quality of harvested seed.  A new method of caging an entire regeneration plot in one screen cage, 7.5 meters long and supported by fence posts and wire, has been developed.  Data on crop specific descriptors have been gathered on a large number of the accessions in the collection and entered into the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).  Although these data reflect diversity among accessions they do not always reflect the within accessions diversity often observed.  Therefore, the method of recording some of the descriptors has been modified.   Images of 86 accessions have been downloaded into GRIN, allowing scientists to view morphological traits of individual accessions and provide visual clarification of descriptor data.  Photographing and downloading images of the collection is an ongoing project.  Improving the regeneration protocol and clarifying data in GRIN are key issues in the management of the U.S. safflower collection.

 Key words:  Carthamus tinctorius, regeneration, descriptors, diversity, safflower