Path Analysis to select for petal yield in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Safflower is a multipurpose plant cultivated since ancient times having many components of beneficial properties in oil and flowers. Farmer can obtain an additional income by marketing the florets (petals), which have a considerable medicinal and commercial value. The present study has been undertaken with the goal of estimating the genotypic correlation between eight different quantitative traits and carrying out path coefficient analysis to know the direct and indirect contribution of component traits to petal yield in safflower for breeding strategies. Results on genotypic correlations and path analysis do not always present a similar picture: correlation analysis shows that it could be possible to select for petal yield/plant by the trait late flowering or by plant height; while, path analysis indicates useful traits number of effective heads/plant and secondary branches/plant.