Safflower is a good crop to include in cereal based cropping systems in the Northern Great Plains of the USA and Canada because it is adapted to semi-arid regions of the world. No-till field research was conducted 11 km southwest of Mandan, ND to determine the influences of previous crop and crop residue on safflower ( Carthamus tintorius) production. Four replicates of safflower were seeded over ten crop residues [canola ( Brassica napus), crambe ( Crambe abysinnica), dry pea ( Pisum sativum L.), dry bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.), flax ( Linum usitatissimum L.), safflower, soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.), wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.), and barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.)] in 1999 and 2000. Averaged over the two years, surface residue cover after seeding safflower was the highest for wheat, barley, and flax (95 to 86%) and the lowest for dry pea, dry bean, and sunflower (82 to 31%). Safflower production after flax, barley, wheat, and dry pea was 220 to 150% greater than safflower production after safflower. The sustainability of diversified cropping systems that include safflower will be determined by the previous crop and crop residues and the crop sequence in which safflower is grown.
