Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), P.O. Box 44, Phaltan-415 523, Maharashtra, India

I) Development of high yielding and high oil containing varieties of safflower for minimal irrigation :

A high yielding safflower variety ‘Nira’ (NRS-209) developed at NARI was released for commercial cultivation under limited irrigation by the Government of Maharashtra, in 1988.

Recently, NARI-6 - a non-spiny safflower variety has been released on national level. This is a high oil containing variety which gives 20% higher seed yield and 26% higher oil yield than JSI-7 (a commercially released non-spiny variety).

Ten spiny and three non-spiny genetic male sterile lines have been developed from two different genetic male sterility sources identified at NARI. In addition to these, six dwarf male sterile lines have also been developed. These make it possible to identify male sterile (MS) and male fertile (MF) plants at about 40-45 days after sowing, making roguing of MF plants relatively easy.

A spiny safflower hybrid NARI SH-1 developed at NARI was found to give an average increase of 22% in seed yield and 41% in oil yield over the national check A-1, over 3 years.

A non-spiny safflower hybrid NARI SH-2 developed at NARI was found to give oil yield on par with spiny safflower hybrid check DSH-129 and also to produce about 300 Kg florets/ha.It is expected that NARI SH-1 and NARI SH-2 will be released soon for cultivation on state and national level.

Technology for the production of spiny and non spiny safflower hybrids has also been developed.

II) Development of suitable technology for growing safflower under limited irrigation

Highest seed yields could be obtained when

i) Safflower was planted in the first week of October.
ii) Plant population of about 100 thousands/ha was maintained.
iii) Fertilizer containing 60 Kg/ha N (in split dose) and 30 Kg/ha P₂O₅ was applied to the
     crop.
iv) Two irrigations - first at elongation (35 days after sowing) and second at flowering
     stage(75 days after sowing) were applied, in addition to a pre-sowing irrigation.
v) Crop was protected against diseases such as alternaria leaf spot and wilt and insects such
    as aphids and heliothis.

III) Popularisation of safflower florets as a herbal health tea

A safflower capitulum (head) is nothing but an inflorescence containing many florets (flowers) arranged in several circles (Fig. 1). In China, safflower is grown almost exclusively for its flowers, which are used for medicinal purposes (Li Dajue and Hans-Henning Mundel, 1996). Along with other herbs it is used for the treatment of many diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, male sterility, female infertility, respiratory diseases etc.

Fig1. Safflower florets

In addition to its medicinal uses, safflower florets are also nutritious containing about 11% amino acids and many vitamins and minerals.

It was felt that collecting florets should be able to give good remuneration to farmers. However, spiny nature of the plant was a hindrance to petal collection. For this reason, non-spiny varieties and hybrids were bred at the institute. In addition to 2500 to 3000 Kg seed, the hybrids were found to yield 250 to 300 Kg petals per hectare. This should give a net profit of about Rs. 35 to 40,000/- per hectare to the farmers from the non-spiny safflower hybrids. From spiny safflower hybrids, farmers get a net profit of about Rs. 25 to 30,000/- per hectare. To enable these farmers also to get extra income from the petals, we have developed a battery-operated knapsack type petal collector (Fig. 2). This will enable the farmers to increase their net profit from spiny hybrids to Rs. 35,000/- or more per hectare. These net profit figures also compare favourably with those from other winter crops such as wheat or gram, which give a net profit of about Rs. 20,000/- per ha.

Fig2. Battery powered petals collector

During last two years we have locally sold about 50 Kg petals as herbal tea on an experimental basis. The response from the local population has been quite positive.

i) To carry out pharmacological, toxicological and clinical trials on safflower florets, which will help in promoting their use for medicinal purposes.

ii) To study biochemical properties of safflower florets to exploit them as food additives such as for natural food colours.

iii) To find male sterility marker traits identifiable at early stage of plant growth in genetic male sterile lines of safflower.

iv) To identify and develop cytoplasmic-genetic male sterility system in safflower.

v) To collect basic information on flower production in safflower and to find methods for maximizing flower yield both genetically as well as agronomically.