Oil Content and Fatty Acid Composition in Seeds of Three Safflower Species

Seeds of six safflower (C. tinctorius L.) genotypes and 19 accessions of two wild species were analyzed for oil and fatty acid composition. Oil content ranged from 29.20 to 34.00, 20.04 to 30.80 and 15.30 to 20.80% in C. tinctorius, C. oxyacantha Bieb. and C. lanatus L., respectively. The main fatty acids of oleic, linoleic, palmitic and stearic acids composed 96–99% of the total fatty acids in all species. The sum of myristic, palmitoleic, arachidic, and behenic fatty acids in oil of the species ranged from 0.43 to 0.57%. The oleic acid in seed oil of C. tinctorius, C. oxyacantha and C. lanatus ranged from 12.24 to 15.43, 14.11 to 19.28 and 16.70 to 19.77%, respectively. The corresponding ranges for linoleic acid were 71.05 to 76.12, 63.90 to 75.43 and 62.47 to 71.08%. Palmitic acid in seed oil varied from 5.48 to 7.59% in C. tinctorius, 6.09 to 8.33% in C. oxyacantha and 7.44 to 8.78% in C. lanatus. The stearic acid of the seed oil showed a variation of 1.72 to 2.86, 2.50 to 4.87 and 3.14 to 4.79% in genotypes of these species, respectively. The fatty acids composition of oil among the cultivated and wild species were not considerably different, indicating that seed oil of the wild safflower is possibly suitable for human consumption and industrial purposes.