Saffron Agronomy and Technology
Year:2016 | Volume:4 | Issue:2|Papers Count:7

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is an annual plant from a biological aspect, but it has a perennial cycle in the field conditions. Cytological impairments such as triploid and self- incompatibility mechanisms are considered as the most important reasons for male- sterility in saffron. Therefore, saffron reproduction is made by meristems tissues and establishment of new daughter corms which are produced by the mother corms. During the growing season, mother corms deteriorate gradually with increasing daughter corms growth. Each daughter corm is considered as a mother corm for replanting in the next growing season. Duo to the life cycle of saffron as a perennial plant in the field conditions, the gradual deterioration of mother corms during the growing season and also the remobilization of nitrogen and phosphorus from aerial part to daughter corms at the end of each growing season, the study of acquisition and use efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus in saffron is more complicated than other annual or biannual plants. Firstly, the objective of this review article is to describe the nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in aerial parts and daughter corms in saffron. In addition, relevant literaturerelated to the most important strategies for improving nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency is reviewed. Secondly, the relationship between nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency in saffron isdiscussed.

In order to study the effect of additive intercropping series of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) with saffron (Crocus sativus L.) on their growth criteria and yield, a field experiment was done based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad during two growing seasons of 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. The treatment included 100% saffron + 20% chickpea, 100% saffron + 40% chickpea, 100% saffron + 60% chickpea, 100% saffron + 80% chickpea, 100% saffron + 100% chickpea and their monoculture. The trait studied were plant height, yield components, biological yield and seed yield of chickpea and the number of flowers, fresh weight of flowers, fresh weight of stigma and dry weight of stigma for saffron. The results showed that saffron intercropping series had a significant impact on plant height, number of branches, number of pods, number of seeds per pod, number of seeds per plant, biological yield and seed yield of chickpea (p£0.01). The highest biological yield and seed yield of chickpea were observed in monoculture with 608.3 and 282.9 kg.m-2 and the minimum of these were obtained in 100% saffron + 100% chickpea with 122.5 and 55.94 g.m-2, respectively. The number of flowers, fresh weight of flower, fresh weight of stigma and dry weight of stigma for saffron were significantly affected by intercropping with chickpea (p£0.01). The highest flower number and stigma dry weight of saffron were achieved in monoculture with 103.89 and 0.47 g.m-2 and the lowest of these were obtained in 100%saffron + 20% chickpea with 28.94 flowers.m-2 and 0.14 g.m-2, respectively. By increasing the chickpea ratio from 20 to 100% at additive intercropping series with saffron, the dry weight of stigma was increased by 142, 116, 41 and 5%, respectively. Therefore, we may conclude that intercropping of saffron with nitrogen fixation plants such as chickpea seems to be a rational ecological approach for sustainable management of saffron.

In order to investigate the effect of effective microorganism application method on saffron growth characteristics in the presence of chemical and organic fertilizers, a field experiment was conducted at Sheshtamad County during the growing season of 2013-2014. The experiment was carried out as split plot based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experimental factors included effective microorganisms (EM) application method as main plots (no application, soil application and foliar application of EM) and chemical and organic fertilizers application as subplots (no application, soil application of humic acid, soil application of 20, 20, 20+TE and soil application of humic acid + 20, 20, 20+TE). The results showed that soil and foliar application of EM had no significant effect on plant height, but it significantly increased corm number, corm yield, shoot dry weight and number of buds per corm. The average corm weight was reduced in response to soil and foliar application of EM. The highest corm number (220.33), corm yield (1023.33 g m-2) and shoot dry weight (43.02 g m-2) were obtained in soil application of EM treatment. The maximum number of buds per corm (8.68) and average corm weight (5.10 g) were observed in foliar application and no application of EM conditions, respectively. Application of 20, 20, 20+TE and combined application of humic acid and 20, 20, 20+TE increased corm number, corm yield, shoot dry weight and number of bud per corm compared to control and soil application of humic acid. Soil application of humic acid produced the highest average corm weight. Soil and foliar application of EM improved the response of saffron growth characteristics to organic and chemical fertilizers. According to the results, soil applications of EM and 20, 20, 20+TE are recommended to produce maximum corm yield in saffron.

The aim of this study is to perform an economic investigation of the use of various inputs in saffron production and to measure the efficiency of its production in small and large farms of the Khorasan Razavi province. The required data was collected from 170 questionnaires completed by saffron producers in the Torbat-e Heydarieh and Zaveh counties in the year 2014. In order to ensure the accuracy of selected production function, the performance of Cobb Douglas, Transcendental and Translog functional forms were tested. The results suggest that Translog functional form is the most appropriate form for expression of production technology of this product. The estimated elasticities based on this production function show that large land owners perform better in the input usage. Moreover, the comparison of technical efficiency between the two groups of farms indicates that 49 percent of small farms and 18 percent of large farms work at inefficient levels of production. The large difference between the lowest and highest technical efficiency in large farms group shows that there is an option to increase technical efficiency in these fields through the use of good management practices.

Agricultural sustainability is undoubtedly one of the most important parts of sustainable development. The main source of income for the residents of villages of the Khorasan Razavi province is based on agricultural and horticultural products especially sale of saffron. In this regard the turquoise shades of the flowers of this plant encompass all of the fields in Nishabur and they have been much welcomed by farmers in this city. In this study, the cultivation of saffron in creating economic stability of the rural district Derbghazi in the central part of the city of Nishabur city will be examined. The research method in this paper is based on library, documentary, field and analytical- descriptive studies. In this context and in order to determine the economic stability of rural areas, the Morris Davis model has been used. This model contains three matrices that separately calculate and analyze the economic indicators. The statistical population under study consists of more than one hundred households from the rural villages in the Derbghazi rural district and the sample population studied consists of 308 households based on the Cochran formula. The results of the Morris Davis model indicate that among ten villages that were studied, Behroudi, Jilo, Khojan and Norouazabad have low economic stability, and Rouhabad, Haghiye, Shadmiyane, Karizak plus the villages of Jafarabad garden and Karizak Sabbah have average economic stability. In the end and based on the results of the research study some recommendations are presented in order to maintain employment in the region and support the farmers who are cultivating saffron to encourage the till of saffron and help the economic stability of the residents of the villages that were studied.

Saffron (Crocus sativus; Iridaceae) is an important economic and medicinal crop in Iran. The saffron that is an herbaceous triploid geophyte is used mainly as a source of secondary metabolites having aromatic and medicinal value. The plant develops annually from buds on the mother corm- i.e. a thickened stem- which acts as a resting, perennating storage organ. In this researchin vitro propagation ofCrocus sativus through direct and indirect methods has been studied. Corm slices as explants were sterilized and transferred to MS media with different concentrations of plant growth regulators. The results showed that use of HgCl2 0.15% for 20 minutes is the best treatment for sterilization. The results of ANOVA of direct regeneration indicated that the most corm formation was observed in 2 mg/l BAP. Maximum callus induction was achieved on MS supplemented with 1 mg/l 2,4-D+2 mg/l BAP. As results indicate the most number of embryos were obtained in MS medium containing 0.15 mg/ l NAA. Also this medium was suitable for germination of embryo. Corm formation was only observed in MS supplemented with1 mg/l 2,4-D+2 mg/l BAP in the indirect method. The corm was transferred to JF pot for adaptation and then it was transferred to the pot and soil for growing.

Saffron is one of the most economical and highly valuable plant species in Iran. About 80 percent of the total export of saffron in the world originates in the Khorasan Razavi province. The demand for higher production, limitations of climatological resources, soil and water have caused the officials who are in charge of agriculture to seek for areas that are potential candidates for the cultivation of saffron by means of precise, rapid and analytical methods. In the present study, geostatistical interpolation methods are used for climatological- ecological zoning of agricultural lands in the Khorasan Razavi province that are suitable candidates for saffron cultivation. To this aim, climatological and ecological requirements of saffron cultivation are first determined based on available scientific references. Then the necessary data are prepared. In the present study, an effort has been made in the spatial modeling and interpolation of the areas that are potential candidates for saffron cultivation based on the yield per unit area in 8 counties of the province during the 1989-1990 to 2008-2009 crop years and the 11 climatological parameters that affect saffron growth and blossom in the mentioned period of time. Based on the results, the maximum absolute humidity has been selected as the best covariate. The modeling of crop yield and the evaluation of the models were performed using geostatistical methods in GS+software. Finally, the prepared zoning map showed that the geostatistical methods used are suitable choices for determination and zoning of areas that are suitable candidates for the development of saffron cultivation. The results for zoning have showed that a third of the southern areas in the Khorasan Razavi province (especially in the Gonabad county) have the maximum cultivation potential from the viewpoint of climatology, and in the northern direction of the province (especially in the Quchan and Binaloud counties) the value of land decreases considering its potential suitability for saffron cultivation.