ABSTRACT
Safflower cultivation has now extended over many parts of the world, both in the tropics and in the subtropics. Safflower is a drought- and salt-tolerant crop. It can be grown in a range of soil types, but well-drained, medium to heavy textured soils are best suited for its growth. The disease is more serious in countries where the crop is grown year after year. The seedlings which survive the fungal attack regain vitality at the early stage of blossoming and again show symptoms of the disease at the time of seed setting. Seed treatment with non-mercury fungicides such as maneb, mancozeb, captafol and thiram and TCMTB have also been reported to check the seedling infection of safflower rust. Seedling rust resistance appears in most cases to be both physiologically and genetically related to foliage rust resistance. Gila, for instance, has proved resistant in Arizona but can succumb elsewhere to different pathogenic races.
