The relationship between nitrogen sources and the growth of Carthamus tinctorius seedling was discussed in order to increase production of C. tinctorius sprout, with 13, H7 and 310 safflower strains as test materials. Pot sand culture experiment was conducted to study effects of 8 treatments for ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, bioorganic fertilizer, urea, bioorganic fertilizer/ammonium nitrogen, bioorganic fertilizer/nitrate nitrogen, bioorganic fertilizer/urea, ammonium nitrogen/nitrate nitrogen on biological characteristics of C. tinctorius seedlings, soluble sugar, soluble protein, nitrate, hydroxyl safflower yellow A (HSYA) and flavonoids, accompanied by the control experiment without fertilizer. The results showed that: (1) the plant height, leaf length, fresh weight per plant, edible parts quality and biological yield of safflower seedlings were all improved by all nitrogen treatments, compared with control experiment. Edible parts quality, fresh weight per plant and biological yield of C. tinctorius seedlings by urea treatment were the best，which increased by 31.46%, 25.15% and 35.63% on average in contrast with those of control experiment, the average output ratio was 81.94, then those were followed by bioorganic fertilizer/nitrate nitrogen, which increased by 27.59%, 21.78% and 29.81% on average, the average output ratio was 78.18. (2) Soluble sugar content in C. tinctorius seedlings was reduced by ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen. The content of soluble protein in C. tinctorius seedlings was increased significantly when urea was applied alone, followed by the combination of bioorganic fertilizer and urea. (3) When ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and urea were applied with bioorganic fertilizer, the increase in nitrate content in C. tinctorius seedlings was smaller than that of ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and urea applied alone. (4) Different nitrogen sources had little effect on the content of HSYA in C. tinctorius seedlings. The content of flavonoids in C. tinctorius seedlings decreased after fertilization, which increased slightly when combined application of bioorganic fertilizer/nitrate nitrogen. When the nitrogen source was from bioorganic fertilizer/nitrate nitrogen fertilizer, the biological yield, the contents of soluble sugar, soluble protein and flavone were relatively high, along with the relatively low nitrate content, which was the best fertilization scheme.