Agriculture
Mohammad Ali Behdani; Gholamreza Zamani; Hamid-reza Fallahi; Mohammad Hassan Sayyari Zohan; Alireza Samadzadeh
Abstract
The use of corms with appropriate weight is one of the main factors in the flowering of saffron. Thus, the impacts of six organic (OS) and conventional (CS) production systems on the growth of saffron replacement corms was studied during one growth cycle from October 2015 up to May 2016 in this experiment. ...
Read More
The use of corms with appropriate weight is one of the main factors in the flowering of saffron. Thus, the impacts of six organic (OS) and conventional (CS) production systems on the growth of saffron replacement corms was studied during one growth cycle from October 2015 up to May 2016 in this experiment. The experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications and six treatments including low, medium and high input organic systems as well as low, medium and high input conventional systems. A transition period of 24 months was considered in the chosen field before corm planting. Based on the results of an analysis of variance, the effect of experimental treatments was significant on the growth properties of most replacement corms (RC). The results of means comparison revealed that the differences within each organic or conventional system were insignificant but they were found to be considerable between the two OS and CS production systems. Total RC weight per clone and the number of flowering buds per RC in the OS production system were on the average 40% more than that of the CS production system. The amount of mean RC weight for OS and CS was 4.75 and 2.54g, respectively. The percent of RC with weight of less than 5g in the CS production system was higher than that of the OS production system (70 vs. 84%), while the percent of RC in 5-10g (13 vs. 14.5%) and more than 10g (3 vs. 15.7%) categories in the OS production system were more than that of the CS production system. The mean value of flowering buds had a significant correlation with the total RC weights per clone (+0.58**), mean RC weight (+0.64**), number of small RC (-0.57**) and number of large corm per clone (+0.61**). In addition, there was a significant correlation between the mean RC weight with the number of RC per clone (-0.55**), the RC weight per clone (+0.73**), the number of small RC (-0.89**) and the number of large RC per clone (+0.81**). Overall, the employment of OS had a significant positive effect on the growth of saffron replacement corms especially on mean corm weight and the number of flowering buds.
Agriculture
Zohre Gholizade; Mohammad Hossein Aminifard; Mohammad Hassan Sayyari
Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of different municipal waste compost levels of and maternal corm weights on yield and vegetative characteristics of saffron, an experiment was conducted with a factorial arrangement based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Agricultural ...
Read More
In order to investigate the effects of different municipal waste compost levels of and maternal corm weights on yield and vegetative characteristics of saffron, an experiment was conducted with a factorial arrangement based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, University of Birjand during the growing season of 2014-2015. The treatments were four levels of municipal waste compost (0, 5, 10 and 20 t.ha-1) and three mother corm weights (0.1- 4, 4.1- 8 and 8.1- 12 g). The traits included the number of flower, fresh weight of flower, stigma and fresh weight of corm with scale, weight and diameter replacement and number of buds. The results showed that the effect of municipal waste compost was significant on total weight corm with scale, diameter of center corm and replacement corm, weight of fresh flower and stigma. The highest corm weight and number of replacement corms were obtained for treatment 10 t. ha-1 compost (21.33 g. plant -1 and 2.33 number, respectively), while the control had the lowest values (with 16.4 g. plant -1 and 1.66 number). The effect of mother corm weight was significant on the vegetative characteristics of saffron. The highest corm weight with scale, diameter of replacement, flower yield and fresh weight of flower and stigma were observed for 8.1-12 g. The most fresh and dry weight of stigma (0.31 and 0.11 g. m -1, respectively) were observed from treatment mother corm weight 8.1-12 g, while the lowest values (0.06 and 0.03 g. m -1) were 0.1- 4g. Interaction between municipal waste compost and corm weight had a significant effect on the weight of fresh flower, sepal, stigma and the number of lateral buds and the highest fresh weight of flower (9.36 g. m-2) and stigma (0.41 g. m-2) were observed for treatment 10 t. ha-1 and 8.1-12g. Generally, the findings of the current study revealed that the use of municipal waste compost (10 t. ha-1) and large mother corms (8/1-12 g) had positive effects on corm growth and flower yield of saffron.
