Safflower: A winter Oil Crop Suitable For Mediterranean Environments

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Safflower A winter Oil Crop Suitable For
Mediterranean Environments

• Antonio Corleto
• Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Vegetali
• Via Amendola 165A 70126 Bari Italy
• e.mail corletoa_at_agr.uniba.it

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INTRODUCTION
The growing demand for vegetable fats for food
purposes has entailed a considerable expansion of
oilseed crops all over the world. The world
surface grown with oilseed crops has increased by
about 105 over the period 1974-2004 (Table 1),
rising from about 84.4 million hectares to 172.7
million (2004).
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BOTANY

• Scientific name Carthamus tinctorius L.
• Family Compositae or Asteraceae
• Germination cotyledones leaves minimum temp.
  4C
• Rosette stage
• Taproots

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Rosette stage
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Stem elongation
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BOTANY

• Flowers color yellow, red, rarely white
• Generally self-pollinating 10 outcrossing by
  bees and bumblebees
• No wind pollination

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BOTANY
Leaves become spiny at full flowering Varieties
with no spiny leaves
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BOTANY
Seeds A with stripped hull B with pappus C
Bold white
A
B
C
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SAFFLOWER AS OIL CROP

• India and Ethiopia are the countries with the
  longest tradition of safflower growing as an oil
  plant
• In the XX century, safflower has become an oil
  crop used both for food and industrial purposes
  in many other countries as well
• In the United States, safflower seeds were first
  introduced at the end of the XIX century by the
  Ukrainian, Spanish and Portuguese immigrants In
  the fifties P.F. Knowles started an extensive
  research in California. Knowles found 7 centres
  of safflower diversity ranging from the Far East
  to Mediterranean Europe

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SAFFLOWER AS OIL CROP

• At the present varieties with seeds of low hull
  percentage (25) and high oil (46 to 47) and
  protein contents (34) have been obtained. High
  linoleic ones reach 67
• A large world collection of safflower species and
  lines is maintained by the USDA in Pullman
  (Washington). Safflower oil, high linoleic or
  high oleic, shows the highest
  polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid or
  monounsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio
  polyunsaturated fatty acids such as linoleic acid
  and the monounsaturated ones like oleic acid tend
  to reduce the bad cholesterol content or LDL
  (low density lipoprotein) For this reason there
  is a growing demand for safflower oil especially
  in the United States, in Germany and Japan, where
  it is often used as gift to offer on the main
  festive occasions.

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SAFFLOWER AS OIL CROP

• Safflower oil has been long used for industrial
  purposes, too, notably for preparing varnish, due
  to the high linoleic acid content of high
  linoleic varieties
• In the near future as oil resources increasingly
  deplete, safflower oil, like other vegetable fat
  substances, could be used for energy purposes in
  agriculture and alcohol for the production of
  surfactants

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Distribution and production of safflower
world-wide
The harvested area and yield/ha of countries with
over 1000 ha are reported on table 2 referred to
1996 and 2006. Total harvested area decreased
from 1,160,693 ha (1996) to 817,992 ha (2006).
India in 2006 still ranks the first place with
420,000 hectares, but in 10 years cropped area
was reduced of about 40.
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Marketing of safflower world-wide
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Safflower in the mediterranean environment
Experimentation on safflower as an oil crop
was started in the seventies (1973) at the
Agronomy Institute of Bari University, with
scattered research works that were carried on
more intensively in the eighties thanks to
national projects funded by the Ministry of
Agriculture mainly involving Southern continental
and insular Italy. The research sectors
investigated included agronomy, pest adversities,
plant breeding and animal feeding. Agronomic
research have been performed on replicated plots.
In this paper only researches concerning Agronomy
will be reported.
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AGRONOMY Seed and oil production Varieties and
hybrid performances

• Seed and oil yields are greatly affected by total
  and spring rainfall (April-May in particular)
  soil depth is also very important
• With a rainfall of 400 mm equally distributed
  through the cropping cycle, seed yields do not
  exceed 2 t ha-1 whereas with a rainfall of 600 mm
  the yield may even reach 3 t ha-1
• Under good fertility conditions hybrids usually
  have higher yields than varieties (Table 4) only
  some of these (Bacum and Benno) seem able to
  compete with hybrids, while hybrids showed a
  greater cold and pest disease resistance

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AGRONOMYDates of sowing
In all the research works conducted, the
superiority of autumn sowing emerged over spring
sowing. The research riported in table 5
illustrate the effect of November and February
seeding on achene yield.
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AGRONOMYDates of sowing

• Oil content was not influenced by seeding time

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AGRONOMYseeding rate and row spacing

• As to plant density and row spacing, the research
  works conducted do not provide similar results
  largely because they were run under different
  environmental conditions.
• Generally speaking, the highest yields may be
  obtained with plant densities between 25 and 50/
  m2 (Table 7). It seems advisable to increase the
  number of plants / m2 for spring sowing.

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AGRONOMY fertilization
The trial run always registered a beneficial
effect of nitrogen on seed yield, a slighter
effect of phosphorus whereas potassium, used in a
single trial had no effect. In the presence of
low soil moisture (Table 8), nitrogen applied in
doses above 75 to 80 kg ha-1 may depress seed and
oil yields. Hybrids seem able to exploit high
nitrogen doses (225 kg ha-1) in the presence of
poor soil moisture
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AGRONOMY supplemental irrigation
Supplemental irrigation applied (80 mm) at the
start of flowering increases seed yield both in
autumn and spring sowings
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SAFFLOWER SEED POTENTIAL IN COMPARISON WITH
SUNFLOWER AND WINTER CEREALS
Fig. 2 illustrates the grain yield potential, as
the average of 3 environments (200-500 m a.s.l.)
of the crops being tested under dry conditions.
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Comparison among species in a trial conducted
with supplemental irrigation
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FORAGE YIELD
A research conducted in Southern Italy shown that
DMY (fig. 3) increased from 2.1 t ha-1 (R1, bud
initiation stage) to 11.0 t ha-1 in
correspondence of R3.1 sub-stage when less than
25 of head is flowered. The GDD (Growing Degree
Days) needed from emergence to bud initiation
(May 2) were 517 while to reach R3.1 sub-stage
(June 11) 1202 GDD were required.
After June 11 a decline of total DMY was
observed. To reach R5 stage (beginning of seed
filling) 1549 GDD were required and total DMY was
10.2 t ha-1. The average daily increase in DMY
with increasing GDD (May 2 to June 26) was 144.6
kg of DM day -1.
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FORAGE YIELD
Forage DMP (fig. 4) was 12.3 at bud initiation
stage, while at starting of R2 stage when
secondary branches begin to form, the dry matter
accumulated in the forage reached 13.6 and
progressively increased to 30.2 at the end of R2
stage when tertiary branches and heads are full
developed. A sharply increased of DMP was
observed between May 27 (15.8) and June 4
(30.4) a week before the end of R2 stage.
Safflower at R2 stage
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FORAGE YIELD

• The best time to harvest Safflower, for hay
  purpose, is the last week of May at the end of R2
  stage before the onset of anthesis (R3) with DMY
  around 7 t ha-1, DMP 16-20, CP around 9 and CF
  about 30. The GDD need from emergence is about
  900.
• For ensiling purpose, harvesting should be
  performed in the first decade of June at R3.1
  sub-stage when less then 25 of the head is
  flowered with DMY around 10 t ha-1, DMP of the
  forage around 30, CP and CF around 8 and 35
  respectively. The GDD need is about 1200.

R2-R3 stage
R3.1 stage
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Seed yield potential of safflower cropped at
large extension in different farms of Southern
Italy
The introduction of a new crop always entails
many problems that cannot be easily predicted
based on the information collected from the
experimentation conducted on small plots.
If you have to draw information on the actual
yield potential of a crop, the experimental
approach on small plots is often not very
reliable. This depends on many factors that may
be summarized as follows.
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Seed yield potential of safflower cropped at
large extension in different farms of Southern
Italy

• Pot trial is usually more cared
• The estimate of production on small plots is
  often affected by the border effect
• The choice of the area where the trial is carried
  out does not often reflect the field
  environmental conditions where the crop is grown
• carrying out research including the entire crop
  process till the final product (the bottled oil
  in this case) necessitates the production of a
  substantial amount of seeds to use for the
  industrial processing.

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Seed yield potential of safflower cropped at
large extension in different farms of Southern
Italy
For the above reasons it was decided to promote a
Safflower project (acronym PRO.CART) involving
public bodies (Mountain Communities and
Reclamation Consortia) and farms falling within
the land areas relevant to the public bodies
concerned in the project.
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Seed yield potential of safflower cropped at
large extension in different farms of Southern
Italy
The public bodies have ensured to a varying
extent the financial support to the project and
the willingness to co-operate in the extension
service that is relevant to the Department of
Plant Production Science of Bari University.
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Seed yield potential of safflower cropped at
large extension in different farms of Southern
Italy
The basic objective of PRO.CART. was both to
assess the crop yield potential in terms of grain
and oil yield per hectare and to study the whole
process including the oil cold extraction (used
for dietetic and medicinal purposes), the
bottling and an assessment of the oil popularity
rating among consumers.
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Seed yield potential of safflower cropped at
large extension in different farms of Southern
Italy
The results obtained in this research have
pointed out the higher yield of durum wheat as
compared to safflower and confirm previous
research conducted in Southern Italy. Safflower
comparison with sunflower or rape, in terms of
yield and oil yield, is in favour of sown-fall
safflower as it was pointed out by a previous
research therefore the farmers who intend to grow
an oil crop should prefer, in rainfed condition,
fall-sown safflower.
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Period end of June
Sunflower spring sowing
Safflower Winter sowing
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Seed yield potential of safflower cropped at
large extension in different farms of Southern
Italy
Safflower yield potential is affected by the too
long cropping cycle and by the occurance of the
part of the reproductive stages (from heads
appearance to seed filling) in June when the
evapotranspirative demand increases, rainfall is
sharply reduced and photosinthesis rate is
strongly cut down by the increase of dead leaves
Southern Italy end of June
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Seed yield potential of safflower cropped at
large extension in different farms of Southern
Italy
Part of the seeds produced in this safflower
project was submitted to cold extraction in an
oil firm that also provided the separate bottling
of the 2 oil types (high oleic and high linoleic
respectively). About 4,500 bottles each
conteining 750 ml of oil were produced and
distributed to the farmers by the public bodies
involved in the project. The initiative gained
the farmers confidence.
Cold extraction of oil
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 Safflower plant ideotype for Mediterranean
environment
The water deficit starts in February and ends in
November. Total water deficit is very high (827
mm) and from middle of June to middle of August
the daily evapotranspiration rate (Blaney and
Criddle, FAO) varies between 6 and 9 mm/day.
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 Safflower plant ideotype for Mediterranean
environment
Therefore the development of cultivars that
mature 4-5 weeks earlier than those commercially
available at the present on the world market
would make possible in Southern Italy the
cultivation of safflower in rotation with durum
wheat.
We really need to obtain varieties and hybrids
that bloom within mid-May.
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To develop a plant ideotype it is essantial to
know the vegetative and reproductive stages of
the species under study. In the case of safflower
plant development stages have been described by
Tanaka et al., (1997).
Vegetative stages
VE emergence of the Cotyledons V(N) N number
of true leaves
V1 V6 Rosette stage Stem lt 5 cm
V7 Vmax stem elongation
Reproductive stages

• R1 bud initiation
• R2 The immature primary bud increase to maximum
  diameter secondary branches begin to form
• R3.1 0-25 of the florets in the head is
  flowered
• R3.2 25-50 of the florets in the head is
  flowered
• R3.3 gt50 of the florets in the head is flowered
• R4 Flowering is complete all florets are wilted
• R5 seed begins to fill
• R6 physiological maturity

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 Safflower plant ideotype for Mediterranean
environment
Each stage has been associated with the relative
GDD (Growing Degree Days) calculated with the
formula suggested by Bauer et al., (1984). GDD
were calculated by summation of degree days (Dn)
accumulated a 24-h interval starting from
seedling emergence. The following formula was
applied Dn ???Tmax Tmin?/2? -tb  The base
temperature (tb) was assumed to be 4 C since in
previous researches in the same locality plant
growht was active with temperature around 4C.
However no experimental results are available on
this aspect in the literature and the tb (10C)
reported by Tanaka seems to be too high.
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 Safflower plant ideotype for Mediterranean
environment
A Mean length of vegetative and reproductive
stages (240 days, GDD 2500) of safflower
cultivars available on the market, in a flat area
of Mediterranean environment (Southern Italy).
B Mean length of vegetative and reproductive
stages (210 days, GDD 1800) of a safflower plant
ideotype, for the same environment.
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 Safflower plant ideotype for Mediterranean
environment

• The safflower ideotype should complete the full
  growth cycle using 1800 GDD instead of 2500 GDD
  and complete the cycle at the end of June. To
  reach this objective a reduction of the length of
  rosette stage is essentail. The ideotype plant
  should start the stem elongation within January
  20 instead of February 15.
• The extra early dwarf safflower varieties
  developed by AICARP at Indore centre India
  (Deshpande et al., 2005) can be suceesfully used
  in crossing program with Mediterranean varieties
  with the goal to develop new cultivars
  characterized by a marked earliness.

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Thanks for Your attention
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NOVEMBER 3-7, 2008