Grain
Yield, Oil Content and Earliness of Flowering of Hybrids and Open-Pollinated
Safflower in Southern Italy
E. Cazzato, L. Borazio, A. Corleto
Abstract
A
one-year trial (1998) was conducted in 2 different environments of Southern
Italy (Oppido Lucano and Gaudiano di Lavello, in Potenza province, characterised
by different elevations: 550 and 180 m a.s.l, respectively) with the purpose of
assessing the earliness of flowering, the yield potential and the oil content of
4 hybrids (GW 9022, GW 9023, GW 9003, GW 9005) and 12 open- pollinated
cultivars: Montola 2000 (USA), Montola 2001 (USA), Centennial (USA), C9305
(USA), Benno (Italy), Belisario (Italy), Roberto (Italy), Bacum (Mexico),
Esfehan (Iran), BJ 774 (China), BJ 1023 (China),
and BJ 1063 (China). No differences were found between the 2 tested
environments in the character under analysis. For earliness of flowering,
counted as number of days from seedling emergence (first week of January) to 50%
blooming, hybrids showed an average value of 163 days vs. 160 days of
open-pollinated cvs. Grain yield ranged from 0.99 to 2.4
t ha-1. BJ 774 and Bacum gave the highest production; Esfehan
the lowest. The cultivars from China and the hybrid GW 9022 from the USA showed
the lowest oil content (around 27%) while C9305 and Centennial, the highest
(around 40%). The fatty acid composition was also determined.
Key words: safflower hybrids, open-pollinated safflower, earliness of flowering, grain yield, oil content.