Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 52: 161–170, 1998. © 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Changes in chemical composition, minerals and amino acids during seed growth and development of four safflower cultivars A. B. RAHAMATALLA 1 , E. E. BABIKER 2∗ , A. G. KRISHNA 3 and A. H. EL TINAY 2 1 East Nile College, P.O Box 1087, Omdurman, Sudan 2 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum, Shambat, Sudan 3 Department of Lipid Technology, Food Research Institute, Mysore-570 013, India ∗ Towhom correspondence should be addressed. Present address: Yamaguchi city, Ooaza, Yabara 1017, Yabara Juutaku # 37 Yamaguchi 753, Japan Received 6 October 1997; accepted in revised form 25 March 1998 Abstract. Investigation of four safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) cultivars (S208, S400, S541 and S303) showed that when the seeds were harvested at different stages of growth and development (10, 20, 30, and 40 days) after flowering, moisture content significantly decreased with time. Oil, protein, ash and crude fiber were increased up to day 30. Thereafter, these parameters started to decline gradually with time. The cultivars differed in their final values; oil content of the seeds varied from 10.90 to 45.40%, moisture varied from 4.20 to 8.10% and from 8.50 to 11.10%, protein from 12.10 to 20.30% and from 13.40 to 29.60%, ash from 2.30 to 5.40% and from 2.80 to 6.50%, for the seeds and defatted meal, respectively. Crude fiber for the defatted meal was found to vary from 29.50 to 38.60%. Carbohydrate for all cultivars decreased rapidly up to day 40 with final values varying from 28.10 to 63.30% and from 56.70 to 70.30% for the seeds and defatted meal, respectively. Mineral content (Cu, Zn, Fe, Mg, Mn) fluctuated while phosphorus content significantly increased with time for all cultivars. Amino acid content of the defatted meal increased with time up to day 30 after which it started to decline gradually for all cultivars. Key words: Safflower, Proximate composition, Minerals, Amino acids, Sudan Introduction The limited supply and disproportionate distribution of food throughout the world has been one of the major problems of the twentieth century. Less reliance upon animal protein and increased consumption of plant protein by humans has been proposed as a partial solution [1]. One such protein source which has not been fully explored is safflower. Safflower (Carthamus tinc- torius L.) seed is primarily grown in Sudan in limited areas along the main qual3340.tex; 3/10/1998; 17:09; p.1 Article: qual3340 Pips nr. 167120 (qualkap:bio1fam) v.1.1