Evaluation of Drought Tolerance in Safflower (Carthamus Tinctorius L.)Under non Stress and Drought Stress Conditions

This study was conducted to determine drought tolerance genotypes with superiority in different stressed environments. To screening quantitative indices of drought tolerance, genotypes of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) were tested in a complete randomized block design with three replications under two different water regimes (irrigated and rainfed). Significant positive correlation was found between grain yield in the stress condition (Ys) with indicators stress tolerance index (STI), harmonic mean (HAR) and geometric mean productivity (GMP) indicating that these indices are suitable criteria for screening drought tolerant genotypes. No significant correlation was observed between Ys with tolerance index (TOL) and mean productivity (MP), hence they can be discarded as the desirable markers for identifying drought tolerant genotypes. Principal component analysis (PCA), indicated that the first and second components justified 98.45% of variations between the criteria. Screening drought tolerant genotypes using mean rank, standard deviation of ranks and biplot analysis, discriminated genotype G1 (44) as the most drought tolerant. In conclusion, The indices STI, GMP, MP and HAR genotype G1 (44) were identified as spring planting drought resistant genotype. This genotype had the highest grain yield under stress and non-stress conditions was also high performance