investigation of oil properties and seed composition in some safflower lines and cultivars

safflower (carthamus tinctorius l.) is one of the oilseed plants that can influence strongly on oilseed security because it is extremely compatible with environmental conditions. safflower is cultivated as second cultivation after combining cereals in isfahan. nowadays many attempts are performed to improve safflower oil quality to use in edible oil industry. in this study, quantity and quality of oil extracted from 20 safflower genotypes were investigated. results indicated that there were significant differences between (p<0.01) all characteristics among genotypes. the seeds contained 20.24-36.73% oil, 15.64–21.50% protein. for c121 and e2428, oil content was higher than other genotypes (36.73 and 36.24% respectively), although protein content of m112 and e2428, were highest (21.50 and 21.40% respectively) that they were the best of the internal breeded genotypes. physicochemical analysis results indicated that peroxide value for all genotypes ranged from 2.93 to 5.08 (meq.kg-1) that m112 indicated the best oil stability because it٬s peroxide value was lower than that of other genotypes, this result can be due to significant increase in oleic acid content . the amount of the most abundant fatty acid, linoleic acid found in the oil was to range between 65.14 (m112) and 80.11% (k15). oleic acid content for all genotypes ranged from 0.15 to 21.03%. oleic acid content in the m112 and m420 was higher than that of other genotypes (21.03 and 14.69% respectively). changing fatty acid composition and increasing oleic acid content in safflower seed oil are the main goals to modify safflower. therefore the genotype with high amount of oleic acid is more desirable than others. the results indicated that oil properties were affected by plant breeding programs. two genotypes (m112, m420) from internal genotypes showed the best fatty acid profile and oil stability therefore it can be used to reach to oils with higher quality in near future.