Exploring natural variation in seed oil traits across the global germplasm of the oilseed crop, Carthamus tinctorius L. (Safflower) using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy and gas chromatography

Abstract

Safflower is a drought-resilient crop with seed-oil rich in unsaturated linoleic and oleic acids. However, the low oil content has deterred its adoption as a major oilseed. We profiled a global collection of 1497 safflower accessions from twelve regional gene pools for their seed-oil content and fatty-acid composition. Oil content was estimated using the non-destructive Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy method based on a newly calibrated equation. Our findings highlight significant variability in the global reference collection for oil content, which ranged from 11.24 % to 59.16 %. The robustness of our calibrated equation was demonstrated by the strong correlation between datasets from two years (0.68 %). Furthermore, germplasm evaluation for fatty acid composition using gas chromatography revealed substantial diversity in linoleic (8.22–87.27 %) and oleic acid (6.98–85.84 %) content of safflower seeds. Collectively, accessions from USA and Indian subcontinent gene pools exhibited greatest variability in seed oil traits. In total, we identified eight accessions with very high oil content (>50 %), four accessions with high oil content (>40 %) coupled with desirable oleic acid (>75 %). The present work will aid safflower breeding programs.

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