Saffron Agronomy and Technology
Year:2014 | Volume:2 | Issue:2|Papers Count:7

Commercialization of agricultural operations and use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in agricultural production has been created serious environmental impacts. Due to this issue and in order to assess the amount of chemical fertilizer and pesticide inputs in saffron and wheat production systems, a study was conducted in Qaenat region (South Khorasan province), 50 wheat fields and 48 saffron fields were investigated during 2011-12. The results showed that average nitrogen fertilizer consumption was 222.38 and 57.83 kg.ha-1 in wheat and saffron production systems, respectively, which from statistically point of view the difference was significant. In addition, unlike wheat, the use of pesticides very low in saffron cultivation and in many saffron farms it was ziro. Therefore, the results can be considered saffron is an healthier product and have greater potential to organic product. Also, the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers which were using in wheat in the study area were significantly different with recommended values. While in saffron production there was no significant difference between the values of consumed and recommended. Therefore, it seems, performing soil testing in each region and providing appropriate fertilizer formulas and required promotional-educational services in this regard, and raising public awareness is a good strategy for reducing the use of chemical inputs.

In order to study some physiological responses of saffron under saline conditions, three landraces of saffron which were collected from Gonabad, Ferdows and Torbat-e-heydarieh were compared under 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 dS/m electrical conductivity of saline water during two years under a rain shield in pots in a randomized complete block design with three replications at the Research Center of Yazd which three levels of the landraces and five salinity levels were distributed as factorial. After uniform emerging of the buds, NaCl solutions with the above mentioned levels of salinity were used gradually for pots irrigation with 30% leaching fraction in order to control soil water salinity in desired levels. The results showed that with increasing salinity, relative water content 6.26%, dry weight 19.80%, the total number of leaves 17.042%, the dry weight of corm 49.42%, the concentration of sugars in the leaves and corms 43.36 and 23.72% were reduced and corms and leaves ion leakage 34 and 27%, sodium concentration70%, sodium to potassium ratio 66.66% and proline in leaves 2.88 times were increased that in most cases these fluctuations were observed in 3dS/m of irrigation water.

In order to study the best time, depth, and corm sowing distance of saffron cultivation in Guilan Province, a factorial experiment was carried out based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in Langeroud, Guilan Province, during growing season of 2011- 2012. Studies factors included sowing date (A) (a1: 18th July, a2: 18th August, and a3: 18th September), sowing depth (B) (b1: 5 and b2: 10 cm), and distance between corms (C) (c1: 5 and c2: 10 cm). Yield of dry stigma, wet weight of petal, dry weight of leaf, length of stigmas, total length, number of flowers and number of days from sowing to flowering of saffron were recorded. The results showed that sowing date had significant (at a significance level of 1%) impacts on the weight of style and stigma, wet weight of flower, number of flower, and number of days from sowing to flowering of saffron. Sowing depth had no significant effect on the weight of style and stigma of saffron. On the other hand, the interaction between sowing date and sowing depth was significant on dry weight of leaf, weight of style and stigma, and number of flower per square meter of saffron. The interaction between sowing depth and corm distance was significant on dry weight of leaf. The highest yield of style and stigma and number of flowers of saffron were recorded at sowing date of 18th September based on 5 cm corm distance, while the lowest yield was for sowing date of 15th July and 10 cm corm distance.Density of 5´25 m2 produced the maximum yield of style weight, stigma weight, and dry weight of leaf. The highest leaf dry weight was observed in interaction of sowing depth and corm distance (sowing depth of 5 cm and corm distance of 5 cm) and interaction of sowing date and corm distance (sowing in July and corm distance of 5 cm). On the other hand, the lowest dry weight of leaf was produced in interaction of sowing depth and corm distance (sowing depth of 5 cm and corm distance of 10 cm) and interaction of sowing date and corm distance (sowing in July and corm distance of 5 cm).

This research was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications, to evaluate the effect of root-zone temperature on antioxidant activity in saffron corm in 2013. In this experiment, effect of two root-zone temperatures (23±1 oC and 33±1 oC) in growth chamber on the activity of antioxidant enzymes: peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase and auxin oxidase in the appical of saffron corms during corm dormancy stage (July) and at beginning corm growing stage (October) were studied. The results showed that at both root-zone temperatures the activity of all enzymes were least in July. Moreover at the 33 oC root-zone temperature no differences in enzyme activities were observed between the months of July to October. In addition measured soluble sugars in buds and corms of saffron showed the highest rate of glucose, mannose, and arabinose at a temperature of 23 oC, respectively.Thus, treatment of 23 oC as the best temperature for storage and maintenance of saffron corms was introduced.

Asymmetric price transmission is instances of market imperfection which can affect consumers’ welfare. Because of this matter, analyzing price transmission in agricultural market is an important issue. Saffron is a strategic agricultural commodity in Iran, which mostly produces in Razavi, North and South Khorasan provinces. In this study saffron’s price behavior in these provinces has been investigated. First Johanson Co-integration and Engel-Granger test have been used to investigate long-run relation between monthly saffron’s prices from 2006- 2011. Then, threshold Co-integration test has been used to examine whether price transmission is symmetric or asymmetric. Plus, Threshold Vector Error Correction model has been used to analysis short-run adjustment in saffron market in these provinces. Main results showed that saffron price transmission in Razavi, north and south khorasan is symmetric. The results show that the market price support policies can be helpful in the three provinces of saffron.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.), a native plant from Iran and especially of Khorasan region, has a specific place for people's diet. According to several studies about effects of saffron and because there are no specific studies on the effects of saffron aqueos extract on the development of Drosophila melanogaster as an animal model, this subject evaluated in conversion of larvae to pupa and pupa to mature of fruit flies.5 pairs of 3-day-old wild D.melanogaster were transferred to every culture plate containing different concentrations of saffron aqueos extract in order to intercross and oviposition and were brought out after 8 hrs.The percent of larvae to pupa transitionand pupa to mature conversion, were evaluated in all concentrations. The obtained data were evaluated statistically using SAS software and the mean of data were compared using Tukey test with minimum significance level of p<0.05. In low volume of saffron, resulted in the increased conversion of larvae to pupa and pupa to mature in comparison with the control group. But, presence of high volumes of saffron on the medium leaded to significant decrease of percentage of conversion of larvae to pupa, pupa to mature. With regard to the obtained data, the effects of saffron on the genesis of D. elanogaster depends on dose proportionately. It means that saffron has some effects on the percentage of conversion of larvae to pupa, pupa to mature in low volumes and increased consuming concentrations of saffron may have inverse effects on that.

Considering the importance of planning at the production level, it is necessary to identify the consumer’s future behavior towards organic products. Thus, using seemingly unrelated regression and data of 2012 for 200 households in mashhad, in the present study we have tried to determine the future share of these products in the household’s basket and also survey the effective factors on this share in organic saffron. The results showed that households in mashhad tend to allocate an average of 34 percent of their future consumption basket for organic saffron. The regression results illustrated that while children below 10 years old in the households, willingness to pay the price differential compared with non-organic products and organic labeling positively affected the willingness to pay for organic products, environmental concerns variables created by non-organic products had a negative effect on their willingness. Considering the research results, helping to raise people's awareness about food through different educational and advertising approaches, providing a mechanism to label organic products and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of producing and distributing the organic products are provided as suggestions.