Effect of Date of Sowing and Cultivars on Growth and Yield Attributes of Safflower

The present experiment was carried out at All India Coordinated Research Project on safflower, College of Agriculture, Indore, (M.P.) during rabi season 2015-16 with the objective to test the effect of different sowing dates and cultivars on growth and yield attributes of safflower. The results showed that the cultivar A-1 accumulated maximum dry matter at 30 DAS, 60 DAS, 90 DAS and at harvest as well as took minimum number of days (86.58) for flower initiation, for 50% flowering (93.17) and for 100% flowering (99.67) as compared to other cultivars. While maximum plant height (125.54 cm), number of primary branches (10.33 plant-1) were recorded in safflower cultivar NARI-6 followed by NARI-57 at harvest. It was observed that majority of secondary branches (18.84) emerged under 1st November sowing followed by 15th November sowing. The maximum CGR and RGR received by A-1 which was significantly superior to other cultivars at up to 30 DAS, 30-60 DAS 60-90 DAS and 90 DAS-at harvest compared to other cultivar. It is concluded that cultivar A-1 and NARI-6, and 1st November sowing performed better in terms of above parameters and recommended for cultivation.