Inheritance of Seed Weight, Pappus, and Striped Hull in Safflower Species¹

Abstract

Wild parents of safflower (Carthamus palaestinus L.) had abundant pappus and small seed, whereas domestic parents had little or no pappus and large seed. Low variances of nonsegregating populations suggested that environmental effects on pappus and seed weight were not strong and that variability was largely genetic. Nonadditive gene action for seed weight and pappus was indicated by the Mather and Jinks model. Heritability estimates in the broad sense for pappus were high (above 93%); however, they ranged from 66 to 85% for seed weight. Heritability estimate in the narrow sense for pappus was 88%. Maternal effects were not observed for seed weight. At least two loci are involved in the inheritance of seed weight and pappus. Anthocyanin pigmentation and striped hull assorted independently. Correlation coefficients for seed weight with pappus were low.

Estimates of broad-sense heritability for seed yield and yield components of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

“…M athur et al (1976) reported that head diameter had high heritability, while the least heritability was found in head diameter in the present study. K otecha and Z immerman (1978) reported that broad‐sense heritability for 1000‐seed weight ranged from 66 to 86%. N ie et al (1987) also reported that 1000‐seed weight had high heritability values (>85%).…”

Potential for seed-mediated gene flow in agroecosystems from transgenic safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) intended for plant molecular farming

“…Seed viability was assessed after storage for 24 weeks or longer at ambient temperature to ensure the breaking of potential primary dormancy (ca. 2-24 weeks) that has been documented for hybrids of wild and cultivated safflower (Kotecha and Zimmerman 1978).…”

“…Some early breeding efforts to adapt safflower to North America involved increasing innate (primary) dormancy to prevent seeds from germinating in the heads and, sprouting resistance, prior to harvest. Seed dormancy of wild safflower biotypes is controlled by several loci and hybrids among them and cultivated safflower have increased levels of innate dormancy (Zimmerman 1972;Kotecha and Zimmerman 1978). Li Dajue and Mundel (1996) summarized germination tests conducted on several cultivated varieties of safflower after harvest.…”

Inheritance and Association of Seeds Per Head, Yield Per Head, Blotch, and Flower Color in Safflower Species

“…Genetic information on yield per head in safflower is not available. Ashri and Efron (1964), Imrie and Knowles ( 1970), and Kotecha (1977) reported that anthocyanin pigmentation of the cotyledonary midvein was controlled by one locus, with the allele for purple midvein being recessive to that for green.…”