The inheritance of the yellow color in the safflower Carthamus tinctorius L.

Abstract

The safflower Carthamus tinctorius L. is a minor crop with poorly studied genetics. Four types of the corolla color are distinguished—red, orange, yellow, and white. Since the data on color inheritance are incomplete and contradictory, we have studied the inheritance of the yellow color in the safflower. The work was conducted in 2009–2013 and involved 11 accessions with red, orange, yellow, and white corollas. The accessions have been produced by self-pollination for several years. The progenies obtained by controlled and open pollinations were used in genetic analysis. Two emasculation techniques were used in artificial pollination: an Indian mass-emasculation technique with polythene bags and our own pollen washout technique. The data are statistically processed using the χ2 test. Several types of yellow color inheritance are observed. The crosses of a yellow-corolla plant to a plant with some other color yield yellow-corolla F1 progenies. The segregation in F2 gives all four colors, with the yellow variant being the most abundant. However, when the corolla of the parental plants is colored other than yellow, F2 in some cases contains fewer yellow-corolla plants, while other corolla colors are prevalent. The dominant gene determining the yellow color is designated as C (Chrome). The recessive allele of this gene permits the development of other corolla colors.