ORIGINAL PAPER Fatty Acid Composition of the Oil from Developing Seeds of Different Varieties of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) Umit Gecgel Æ Mehmet Demirci Æ Enver Esendal Æ Murat Tasan Received: 3 January 2006 / Accepted: 10 October 2006 / Published online: 12 December 2006 Ó AOCS 2006 Abstract Fatty acid composition andmoisture and oil content were determined for Montola-2001 and Centennial safflower varieties at three different harvest dates from flowering to maturity, which were grown as autumn and spring crops in two different locations in 2001–2002 and 2002–2003. The experiment was carried out using split–split plots in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Sowing dates affected oil content and fatty acid compositions sig- nificantly (P < 0.01), whereas moisture content in both years was not significantly affected. Moisture content declined 15 days from flowering period to maturity, while oil content increased. The rate of the palmitic acid formation decreased in both varieties 15 days from flowering period to maturity, whereas formation rates of the oleic and linoleic acids increased in Montola-2001 and Centennial varieties, respectively. Keywords Fatty acid composition Á Harvest date Á Safflower varieties Á Sowing date Introduction Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an annual herb belonging to the Compositae family. Safflower is a minor, underutilized oilseed crop. Safflower was culti- vated in 795,118 ha in the world and 731,425 tonnes seed yield was obtained from this area during 2004 [1]. It has been cultivated locally for its oil, meal, and flower [2]. Safflower oil has long been used for industrial purposes, notably for preparing varnish, due to the high linoleic acid content of high linoleic varieties [3]. The resultant meal after oil extraction is used for animal feed, as it is rich in proteins [4]. The petals of the safflower flowers are intensely yellow, red, or orange in color and are used for dried-flower production [5, 6]. An additional product extracted from safflower flowers is carthamin, a dye used to color foods, beverages, and cosmetics [7]. The whole safflower seeds are white or cream in color, and their typical composition is 55–65% kernel and 33– 45% hull. The whole seeds in normal-hull types contain 27–32% oil, 5–8% moisture, 14–15% protein, 2–7% ash, and 32–40% crude fiber [8, 9]. The whole seeds of the plant had an oil percentage of 25–37% in normal hull types; but in very thin hull types, this ratio was increased to 46–47% because the hull ratio was decreased and oil ratio was increased [10]. Safflower is one of the best examples of crops with variability for fatty acid com- position in seed oil [11]. Standard safflower oil contains about 6–8% palmitic acid, 2–3% stearic acid, 16–20% oleic acid, and 71–75% linoleic acid [12]. A safflower from Israel with 5–10% stearic acid, compared with 1– 3% of normal genotypes, was identified [13]. Very high levels of linoleic (87–89%) and very low oleic (3–7%) acid levels were found in safflower from Portugal [14]. Additionally, sources of variation for very high oleic acid content (> 85%) have been reported [15, 16]. The fatty acid composition of vegetable oil deter- mines its best commercial uses [2]. High-oleic safflower oil, because of its great stability and bland flavor, makes U. Gecgel (&) Á M. Demirci Á M. Tasan Tekirdag Agricultural Faculty, Department of Food Engineering, Trakya University, Tekirdag 59030, Turkey e-mail: umitgecgel@tu.tzf.edu.tr E. Esendal Tekirdag Agricultural Faculty, Department of Field Crops, Trakya University, Tekirdag, Turkey 123 J Amer Oil Chem Soc (2007) 84:47–54 DOI 10.1007/s11746-006-1007-3