HETEROSIS AND COMBINING ABILITY STUDIES IN SAFFLOWER (Carthamus tlnctorius L.)

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an important multipurpose rabi oilseed crop of India and other countries of recent introduction. India is the largest producer of safflower in the world .Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a member of family Compositeae, sub family-Asteraceae, tribe-Tubifiorae, subdivisionAngiosperm of division-Phanerograms. There are 36 species of genus Carthamus, out of which Carthamus tinctorius L. (2n=24) is the only cultivated species of safflower which is used for oil extraction and the rest are wild species (Das, 1997). Safflower is usually considered to be a self pollinated crop. Classen (1950) however reported that the extent of cross pollination varies from 8 to 20 percent depending mainly on insect activity and wind.