YIELD, YIELD COMPONENTS AND OIL RATIOS OF IRRIGATED AND RAINFED SAFFLOWER CULTIVARS (CARTHAMUS TINCTORIUS L.) UNDER SEMI-ARID CLIMATE CONDITIONS

The field experiment was conducted in the experimental area of the Faculty of Agriculture in Harran University during of 2019-20, 2020-21 growing seasons to determine the yield and yield components of some safflower cultivars under irrigated and rainfed conditions. The experimental layout was divided into plots in randomized block desing with three replicates. Five safflower varieties (Gokturk, Koc, Dincer, Safir and Balci) were used as the plant material. Plant height (cm), number of lateral branches (number plant-1), number of capitula (capitula plant-1), number of seeds per capitulum (number capitulum-1), 1000-seed weight (g), seed yield (kg ha-1), crown yield (g), crude oil content (%) and crude oil yield (kg ha-1) were investigated. Yields of irrigated cultivars (2425.8 and 2308.9 kg ha-1) in both years were higher than those grown under rainfed conditions (857.3 and 578.1 kg ha-1). The best performance under rainfed conditions was obtained from Dincer cultivar, and the performance of Dincer and Balci cultivars under irrigated conditions were better than of other three cultivars. In addition, oil content of varieties grown under irrigation were higher than varieties grown under rainfed conditions. Balci variety had the highest oil content and best performance under rainfed and irrigated conditions for oil content.