Other subject about saffron
Ghorban Ali Asadi; Surur Khorramdel; Mohammad Hasan Hatefi Farajian
Abstract
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 ...
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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.
Agriculture
Hossein Khozeymehnezhad; Homayoun Farhangfar; Mohammad Ali Behdani; Mojtaba Hassanpour
Abstract
In spite of lots of work performed by saffron farmers in the Southern Khorasan province, a desirable yield has not been obtained which is partly attributed to the lack of scientific knowledge. This investigation is aimed to assess the indigenous knowledge of saffron farmers on the issues related to irrigation, ...
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In spite of lots of work performed by saffron farmers in the Southern Khorasan province, a desirable yield has not been obtained which is partly attributed to the lack of scientific knowledge. This investigation is aimed to assess the indigenous knowledge of saffron farmers on the issues related to irrigation, and also to examine their strengths and weaknesses for taking effective steps to increase crop productivity. A questionnaire (researcher made) including 11 questions about the issues related to irrigation and 14 questions on general information and extensional items were randomly distributed to 235 subjects in the population of farmers of the Southern Khorasan province. The dependent variable was the score of the subjects for the correct answers. Statistical comparison between the levels of each of the independent variables (with significant effect) was undertaken by Tukey-Kramer test using the SAS software. The findings revealed that the groups of subjects participating in the extension courses who were either natives in the South Khorasan province, or had insuring their products answered a greater number of questions correctly with a significant level of 1%. However, the subjects living in the villages had more correct answers at a significance level of 5%. Overall, the results suggest that short-term and long-term programming are needed for the region's farmers to gain appropriate scientific knowledge about saffron planting.
