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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #216617
Title: Registration of WSRC01, WSRC02, and WSRC03 Winter Hardy Safflower Germplasm

Author
item Johnson, Richard
item LI, DAJUE - BEJING CHINA

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Germplasm Release
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/15/2007
Publication Date: 5/15/2008
Citation: Johnson, R.C., Li, D. Registration of WSRC01, WSRC02, and WSRC03 Winter Hardy Safflower Germplasm. Journal of Plant Registrations 2:140-142.

Interpretive Summary: Three germplasms with winter hardiness have been developed, released and described. For many areas worldwide, winter hardy safflower would provide important management alternatives for farmers. Fall sown safflower, resulting in fall and early spring plant development, will potentially yield more than spring sown safflower. Compared to spring sown safflower, crop development of fall planted safflower would occur earlier in the spring when temperatures are lower and moisture more plentiful. Safflower, as a dicot, and is potentially an excellent rotation crop with winter annual monocots such as wheat in semiarid regions, allowing improved control of grass weeds.This is the first release of winter hardy safflower and is expected to be useful in breeding improved winter safflower with potential adaptation to areas of the Western U.S. and the Southern Plains, in addition to international regions such as the Mediterranean basin and S.W. Asia.

Technical Abstract: Winter hardy safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) germplasm lines WSRC01, WSRC02, and WSRC03 were developed at the USDA-ARS, Western Regional Plant Introduction Station, Pullman WA. All three lines originated from germplasm introduced from China to the USDA-ARS national safflower germplasm collection at Pullman WA. The lines were derived from two cycles of mass selection. Plants of each original accession were fall planted at Pullman WA (786 m; 46.7247 N and 117.1355 W) and seed of surviving plants bulked for each cycle. Selection increased winter survival an average of 5.2% for WSRC01, 25.8% for WSRC02 and 69.5% for WSRC03. Average winter survival for WCRC01 was 92%, for WCRC02 84% and for WCRC03 67% in diverse Eastern Washington environments. This is the first release of winter hardy safflower and is expected to be useful in breeding improved winter safflower with potential adaptation to areas of the Western U.S. and the Southern Plains, in addition to international regions such as the Mediterranean basin and S.W. Asia.