Assessment of genetic diversity in safflower germplasm lines (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Twenty safflower germplasm lines were assessed for genetic divergence for seven characters using Mahalanobis D² statistic and principal component analysis. Test weight contributed maximum towards genetic divergence followed by oil content. All the germplasm lines were grouped into seven clusters. Clusters III and II were the best clusters based on seed yield and oil content. The first three principal components explained 83.16% variability. Maximum intercluster distance was observed between cluster IV and VII.