Crossability and resistance to Pythium ultimum in three different species of the genus safflower (Carthamus)

Identification and transfer of desirable genes from wild relatives to crop species is one of the breeding solutions for producing resistance to pathogens and pests. This study was conducted to evaluate crossability and the response to Pythium ultimum in three species of the genus Carthamus. To assess response to the pathogen, eight safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L) genotypes, two ecotypes of C. oxyacanthus collected from Tehran and Isfahan, and one ecotype of C. lanatus collected from Golestan province were cultured on infested media with zoospore suspension of P. ultimum in a split plot design. At the pathogen-free media, seed germination of cultivated and C. lanatus genotypes was higher than 90%, but at the infested media just cultivated genotypes had germination to this extent. The crossability experiment shows that, success in interspecific hybrid seed production is highly depended on choosing the seed producing parent. In the cross of cultivated species and C.oxyacanthus; more hybrid seed was obtained when C.oxyacanthus was female parent. Produced seeds on the cross of cultivated species and C.oxyacanthus had enough germination ability, but it was nothing for seeds obtained from cross of cultivated species and C.lanatus. Resistance of C.oxyacanthus to the pathogen Pythium and success in hybrid seed production show the potential of this species for transferring of resistance and other favorable traits to cultivated safflower.