The effects of pruning safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) as a single-stemmed and single-headed morphological design on growth and development characteristics and agricultural potential

The aim of this study was to determine the possible effects of pruning the side branches at different stages, designed as a single stem/single head, on the growth and development characteristics of the safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) plant and its agricultural potential under the different plant spacing. In the research, which was established with 3 replications according to the split-plot, 3 pruning times (beginning of budding, end of budding and beginning of flowering) and 3 different row distances (15 x 10, 30 x 10, and 45 x 10 cm) were applied. While pruning treatments had positive effects on chlorophyll content, plant height, head diameter, seed number, and 1000 seed weight, they had negative effects on seed weight, harvest index, oil content, seed and oil yield. Chlorophyll content, plant height, number of branches, stem and head diameter, number of heads, number of seeds, seed weight, and 1000 seed weight increased as row spacing widened; harvest index, seed and oil yield decreased; oil ratio was unaffected. The research findings showed that pruning time and sowing distances had non-significant effect on fatty acid composition. Plants that were pruned to leave a single stem/single head contained lower oleic acid and higher linoleic acid. Despite having more seeds and a heavier 1000 seed weight, plants with a single stem/single head had lower seed and oil yields because they did not have as many heads as branched plants. The research findings are important in providing data that can be a role model for genetically non-branching plants.