Response of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) Genotypes to Rust Disease

Ten safflower genotypes were evaluated for their reaction to the rust disease under field conditions during 1999. Puccinia carthami was present on the leaves of alt genotypes tested. The highest disease incidence was observed on the Syrian 1 genotype, and the lowest on the Afyon genotype . Afyon had significantly less symptoms than the genotypes Syrian 1, Sivas, Syrian Hama, Cyprebregon, PI 537598, PI 251982 and Gila.


Introduction
Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an oil crop with high oil quality.Its seed contains 30-35 % oil.Safflower is used as a dye in many industries (Gürbüz 1987).Oil obtained from safflower is used for manufacturing of paints, polishes and soaps in addition to use of it as an edible oil.Due to rapid drying, the oil is in high demand in paint and emulsion industries.The oil has about 10% saturated acids.Unsaturated acids Ilke linoleic acids are about 76%, which increases its value among other oil seeds.The safflower oil is golden yellow in color and contains high amount of linoleic acid.This makes it important for reduction of blood cholesterol and it is helpful for treatment of heart diseases.It has also 18-22% raw protein, 1.5-3% raw ash and 5-8% water.It is also used as animal feed (Ba şalma 2000).After extraction of oil from the seed, 40% protein remains which makes it useful for animal feeding.
Safflower has resistance to cold, drought and salinity stress.Since it is resistant to drought, it could be grown successfully on drylands of Central Anatolia and surrounding regions which have insufficient precipitation.In the recent years, because of inadequate support by Ministry of Agriculture, low yield and lack of studies about adaptability of new cultivars and improvement techniques, safflower production has been limited.However, it is cultivated in Bal ı kesir, Isparta, Eski ş ehir, Kütahya, Konya and Çank ı rı provinces (Ba şalma 2000).
Rust disease caused by Puccinia carthami Corda is an important disease of safflower.This disease is common in Turkey as well as in the world (Khan 1972, Gürcan 1976, Klisiewicz 1977).It has been reported that the 'Ankara Univ.Ziraat Fak.Bitki Koruma Bölümü-Ankara, Turkey 2 Ankara Univ.Ziraat Fak.Tarla Bitkileri Bölümü-Ankara, Turkey disease could be damaging in the Central Anatolia Region (Karaca 1965).It is also damaging under Ankara conditions (Gürcan 1976).Determination of the response of safflower genotypes to rust disease is very important since the disease could prevent the growth of safflower in Ankara (Karaca 1954).
Sa ğı r and K ız ı l (1998) evaluated the reactions of cultivars Dinçer, Yenice and 5/154 to the rust disease under Diyarbak ı r conditions.Extensive disease symptoms were observed.
Despite its importance no detailed work has been done regarding the disease and its effect on different cultivars which are growing in the Central Anatolia region.In this study, safflower seeds collected from various paris of Turkey, and safflower lines obtained from ICARDA (International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas) and a cultivar grown in the region were evaluated for their response to the rust disease.

Materials and Methods
Some of safflower seeds tested were collected from Afyon and Sivas provinces (Afyon population and Sivas population).The lines P1537598, P1250537, P1251982 and cultivars CW74, Syrianl, Syrian Hama, Cyprebregon were obtained from ICARDA.Gila cultivar used in this study has been grown in the region for long years.The planting date was April 5, 1999.1. Plant spacing between rows was 40 cm, and 10 cm within rows. 10 kg/da nitrogen was applied to plots before sowing as urea (45 % N) and disked into the surface soil.Evaluations were made on August, 5, 1999.
In this study, fıfty leaves were collected from the plants.Data are square root transformed before the analysis.A zero to five numerical scale was used for evaluation (Sa ğı r and K ız ı l 1998).

Results and Discussion
Puccinia ca ıthami produced symptoms on the leaves of all the cultivars tested.Although differences were present, in alI cultivars percentage of the diseased area were below 50%.The highest disease incidence was observed on the Syrianl genotype (Table 2).The lowest disease incidence was observed on the Afyon genotype (population).Afyon had significantly less symptoms than the genotypes Syrianl, Sivas, Syrian Hama, Cyprebregon, PI537598, PI251982 and Gila.P1250537 had significantly less disease than Syrianl, Sivas and Syrian Hama.
More genotypes should be tested for their response to rust disease.Detailed studies should address the biology of the pathogen and the effect of planting time and planting density on the occurrence of this disease.Seed and foliar application of fungicides should also be recommended when the disease is too prevalent.

Acknowledgment
We thank Dr. E. Ba şp ı nar for his help on the statistical analysis.

Table 1 .
(Anonymous, 2000)rried at the experimental field of Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ankara.No artificial inoculations TARİ M B İ Lİ MLER İ DERGISI 2004, Cilt 10, Say ı 1 The meteorological data of experimental area for 1999 and long period means(Anonymous, 2000)

Table 2 .
Response of various safflower genotypes to rust disease caused by Puccinia carthami Corda.A numerical scale was used to calculate the means (see text)