Oil and meal characteristics of core and non-core safflower accessions from the USDA collection

Germplasm evaluation of ex situ collections is needed to document collectio n characteristics, enhance utilization, and to determine collection needs. The objectives of this study were to (1) provide oil and meal evaluation in formation for a major portion of the United States Department of Agricultur e (USDA) safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) collection, (2) compare ranges , variances and means between 203 core and 797 non-core accessions, and (3) determine if region of origin could be differentiated based on accession o il and meal characteristics. Means of the core and non-core accessions diff ered for % oil, palmitic acid, stearic acid, alpha-tocopherols, and phenoli c glucosides (both bitter and cathartic) (P < 0.05). Differences between li noleic acid, oleic acid and beta-tocopherol means were not significant, and the variance between core and non-core accessions differed only for palmit ic acid. Thus the core was not fully representative of the non-core accessi ons, but did capture a large fraction of the diversity in oil and meal fact ors present. Accessions from the Americas, China, South-West Asia, and Sout h-Central Asia were differentiated using canonical discriminate analysis, b ut these regions overlapped to varying degrees with the E. European, Medite rranean, and E. African regions. Variation in % oil and fatty acids were ge nerally more important than tocopherols and phenolic glucosides in differen tiating accessions on a regional basis. The check cultivars Montola 2001 (h igh oleic) and Morlin (high linoleic) had oil and fatty acid content compar able to the maximums found in the collection. The ranges for tocopherols an d phenolic glucosides among collection accessions, however, exceeded those of the cultivars, suggesting that collection accessions could be useful for genetic manipulation of these factors.