Abstract
Safflower is a self-pollinating oilseed crop and has been cultivated since antiquity in the Middle East. Safflower has become a minor oilseed crop, and to increase its cultivation it is necessary to characterize and introduce new germplasm. Thirty-eight safflower cultivars and breeding lines from different countries have been screened with 8 AFLP primer combinations to assess genetic diversity and relationships among these genotypes. AFLP primers produced total of 410 bands, 113 of which was polymorphic, with an average of 51.2 bands per assay. Polymorphism ratio changed between 14.8 to 41.4% among the genotypes. Polymorphism information content (PIC) and resolving power (Rp) of the primer combinations were between 0.21-0.38 and 5.11-27.68, respectively. Genetic similarity coefficients were between 0.245-0.850 with an average of 0.573. Dendrogram based on similarity matrix produced three clusters and three cultivars clustered separately from the rest of the genotypes. The study shows genetic variation within germplasm and could be useful for breeding and genetic diversity studies in the future.
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