title: Intraspecific variability of carbon isotope discrimination and its correlation with grain yield in safflower: prospects for selection in a Mediterranean climate.
abstract: The goals of the present study were to obtain a first estimate of intraspecific variability of carbon isotope discrimination (Δ) in safflower, a thistle-like herbaceous plant, and to determine the statistical relationship between Δ and grain yield as well as its components in a collection of 45 accessions of different origins. Grain yield and aboveground biomass, harvest index, average grain weight, and Δ (measured on the bulk leaf organic matter) were investigated in experimental field conditions. A large variability was noted for all traits but a principal component analysis (PCA) allowed to identify several homogeneous groups of accessions. Average grain yield per plant varied between 1 and 39 g. Δ varied between 21.3 and 25.2 ‰, i.e. a large variation of 3.9 ‰. In our experiment, the variation of Δ was not significantly related to that of grain yield in the whole accession sample. However, we found contrasting trends for this relation within accession groups. These initial results motivate further experiments to assess more in depth correlation between Δ and yield in safflower and are encouraging regarding the possibility of using Δ as an effective selection index in safflower to obtain genotypes that efficiently consume water. This study also highlighted one accession that combines the two characters required in the Mediterranean regions, i.e. high yield performance and high water-use efficiency.
authors.affiliation: a Laboratoire de Biologie et Physiologie des Organismes (LBPO) , Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari-Boumediene (USTHB) , Bab Ezzouar, Alger , Algeria.
authors.forename: Imane
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mihoub
authors.affiliation: b Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay , Orsay , France.
authors.forename: Jaleh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ghashghaie
authors.affiliation: c CREA-GPG, Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l'analisi dell'economia agraria (CREA), Genomics Research Centre (GPG) , Fiorenzuola d'Arda , Italy.
authors.forename: Franz W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Badeck
authors.affiliation: b Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay , Orsay , France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.affiliation: d Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay IPS2, CNRS, INRA, Université Paris-Sud, Université Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, Sorbonne Paris-Cite , Orsay , France.|e Institute of Plant Sciences Paris-Saclay IPS2, Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris-Cité, Orsay, France.
authors.forename: Marlène
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamothe-Sibold
authors.affiliation: a Laboratoire de Biologie et Physiologie des Organismes (LBPO) , Université des Sciences et de la Technologie Houari-Boumediene (USTHB) , Bab Ezzouar, Alger , Algeria.
authors.forename: Fatiha
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aid
mesh_terms: D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D031187:Carthamus tinctorius / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes
keywords: Agriculture; Carthamus tinctorius; carbon-13; genotypes; irrigation; isotope ecology; plants; rain; water-use efficiency; yield