Ethyl Methanesulphonate-Induced High Oleic Acid Mutants in Safflower (Carthamus tinctoriusL.)

The oil of Indian genotypes of safflower is rich in linoleic acid, which is less desirable than the oil that is rich in oleic acid. Hence, an investigation was undertaken to widen the variability for isolating high oleic acid mutants of an Indian variety ‘Bhima’ through induced mutagenesis. We report the isolation of high oleic acid mutants of safflower induced by ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS) treatment. Three such mutants were isolated from an M2 population of 15,403 plants. The oleic acid content in these mutants and their progenies was much higher than that in the parent variety Bhima. The mutants segregated in M3 and M4 generations. Increased oleic acid content of the mutants was associated with an obvious decrease in their linoleic acid content. Further, in M4 generation, two high oleic acid progenies, viz. 48-17-13-1 and 48-17-14-3, having high palmitic acid content were also isolated.