EFFECTS OF PHOSPHORUS SUPPLY ON GROWTH, YIELD, AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF SAFFLOWER AND SUNFLOWER

This study comparatively evaluates the phosphorus (P) requirement of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in view of identifying low input oil crops. Both species responded strongly to increasing P supply with respect to plant growth and yield. Yield component analysis revealed that oil yield in safflower was affected by P deficiency mainly via the number of capitula per plant followed, in consecutive order, by the number of achenes per capitulum and the single achene mass (SAM). The major yield component influencing oil yield of sunflower was the number of achenes per plant, followed by the SAM. Contribution of the seed oil concentration to overall yield variation was insignificant for both species. Path coefficient analyses indicate that in sunflower total nitrogen (N) accumulated was found to be most important, while in safflower this holds true for both the total P and N accumulated. It was concluded that safflower cannot be considered a low-input oil crop in terms of its P requirement.