The genetic diversity of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) genotypes developed by hybridization using SSR markers

Safflower is an annual oilseed crop which has healthy edible oil containing high amount of unsaturated fatty acids in the world. In this study, we investigated safflower registered cultivars Turkey (4), genotypes retrieved from USDA (10) and their hybrids (45) for genetic variation using 10 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci. Genetic diversity calculated cultivars, were as follows: mean number alleles (4.67), expected heterozygosity (0.680), average effective (3.172), polymorphism information content (0.664). The dendrogram analysis revealed at least four possible major clusters parents hybrids. High level explained between populations Fst calculate (0.593) suggested that differentiated to each other. Registered distributed across all accessions USA defined most clusters. based method two corresponded spiny spineless genotypes. It was studied 6 SSR markers could be utilized breeding studies on molecular analysis.