Safflower germplasm evaluation for Botswana conditions

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a multipurpose oil seed crop that can be used for cooking oil production, as a vegetable crop, cut flower, forage crop (for both forage and seed for animal feed concentrates), industrial crop for dye production and as a medicinal crop. Safflower is a drought, heat, cold and saline tolerant crop. The crop also tolerates a wide range of temperatures from -7 to 40°C, provided there is no frost during the elongation and flowering phases of growth and development. Drought stress is the most important limiting factor to crop production in agricultural systems in arid and semi-arid regions. Drought adversely affects the already fragile food and agricultural situation in the arid and semi-arid regions and seriously impairs the rural economy and socio-cultural structures. Despite the usefulness of safflower and its drought, heat, cold and salt tolerance, it has remained underutilized and a minor crop. This is largely due to lack of information on its management, locally adapted varieties, product development from it, and reluctance of farmers to adopt a new crop. Therefore, it is essential for the scientific community to carry out research on this crop and popularize it as a commercial crop for development of pharmaceuticals, edible oil, paint and varnishes industry, dye extraction (carthamin), source of α-tocopherol, livestock feed, vegetable and a cut flower.