Genomics, phenomics, and next breeding tools for genetic improvement of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Abstract

Safflower is one of the most important oilseed crops with high-quality seed oil. It can be grown especially in the arid and semiarid regions in the world. The main reason why safflower is not widely cultivated is because of its low yield. Various breeding efforts have made a significant contribution to the improvement of safflower; however, it seems necessary to exploit the potentiality of this underutilized plant. The development of new and improved safflower varieties will improve the sustainability of this crop to different environmental conditions. Classic breeding efforts made great efforts in safflower breeding; however, these techniques have been slow to develop complex traits such as yield, oil yield, some quality traits, and biotic-abiotic stress resistance. Recent advancements in molecular markers and genome sequencing technologies enhanced the breeding activities and aided the scientific community to understand and comprehensively explore the genetic diversity and population structure of safflower. Phenotypic and molecular characterization helped the construction of genetic linkage maps, leading to a better understanding of complex quantitative characters for safflower varieties. The present chapter articulates different aspects of safflower including phenomics, chemical content, origin-diffusion, similarity centers, wild relatives, genetic resources, trades, and comprehensive advancement in safflower breeding in terms of classical breeding, tissue culture, QTL mapping, association mapping, transgenic breeding, genome editing, and speed breeding. This information will lead to more short-term solutions in breeding safflower crop and will provide more practical information for breeders in the near future.