Agriculture
Hesam Aryanpour; hossein sahabi; Hassan Feizi; Alijan Salariyan; Amir Salari
Abstract
Cow manure is one of the most commonly used fertilizers in saffron cultivation, but its main problem is the slow process of decomposition and the slow release of nutrients in the short term; leading to over use of chemical fertilizers by farmers. It is expected that with the introduction of nanotechnology ...
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Cow manure is one of the most commonly used fertilizers in saffron cultivation, but its main problem is the slow process of decomposition and the slow release of nutrients in the short term; leading to over use of chemical fertilizers by farmers. It is expected that with the introduction of nanotechnology in the field of agriculture, a suitable solution will be found to improve the absorption time of organic fertilizers. Cattle manure nanoparticles can reduce the decomposition time of cattle manure with higher specific surface area. Therefore, a split-plot design was carried out using two conventional methods of mulching and mixing with soil on the performance of saffron and soil characteristics to compare the performance of conventional chemical fertilizers and cow manure with nano cow manure.The main factor in seven levels (including nano cow manure in two amounts of five and 20 tons per hectare and in two forms of application of mulch and mixed with soil, normal cow manure in the amount of 20 tons per hectare and in two forms of mulch and mixed with soil and no use cow manure) and the sub-factor included NPK chemical fertilizer (at two levels of use and non-use). The results showed that by making cattle manure nanosized, its half-life in the soil decreased from about 36 weeks to 11 weeks. Nano cow manure treatment of 20 tons per hectare mixed with soil showed an increase in dry stigma yield by 43.7, 46 and 57%, respectively, compared to conventional cow manure treatments, chemical fertilizer treatments, and controls. The nano application of cow manure resulted in maintaining more moisture, less mechanical resistance in the soil, and more percentage of nutrients in the plant. In the comparison of the two methods of mulching and mixing, it was observed that in the mulching method, the amount of moisture is higher and the surface mechanical resistance is lower in the soil, and in the mixing method, the amount of nutrients in the leaves is higher. The results showed that in treatments with nano cow manure, the mixed method is preferable to mulch. By making cattle manure nano, using the mixed method instead of mulch and applying higher levels of cattle manure, was reduced the synergistic effect of chemical fertilizers in increasing yield. As in nano cow manure treatment (20 tons per hectare mixed with soil) was not observed significant yield increase due to the addition of chemical fertilizer. Also, nano cow manuew five ton per hectare treatments (mulch and mixture) showed a 22% yield increase compared to conventional cow manure treatments. It is possible to increase the yield by 22% by making cow manure nanosized, along with reducing the consumption of cow manure by 75% in the second year of saffron cultivation.
Agriculture
Shirin Ansaryan Mahabadi; Iraj Allah dadi; Majid Ghorbani Javid; Elias Soltani
Abstract
Salicylic acid as a plant hormone plays an important role in regulating growth and physiological processes in plant. In order to study the effects of salicylic acid hormone and mother corm weight on saffron flowering properties, an experiment was conducted as factorial based on a randomized complete ...
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Salicylic acid as a plant hormone plays an important role in regulating growth and physiological processes in plant. In order to study the effects of salicylic acid hormone and mother corm weight on saffron flowering properties, an experiment was conducted as factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at the saffron research field of College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran during 2016-2017. The first factor consist of salicylic acid in three levels (Normal, priming with 1 and 2 mM concentrations (and second factor was weight of corm in two level that consist of small corm (3-5 gr) and large corm (8-10 gr). The results showed that the effect of corm weight on fresh weight of flower, Length of flower, fresh weight of stigma, length of stigma, fresh weight of pistil, length of pistil and qualitative characteristics of stigma were significant. The amount of these traits was higher in terms of the use of large mother’s corms. The effect of corm weight on dry weight of stigma was not significant. Interaction between salicylic acid and corm weight on all traits was not significant but the results of mean comparisons showed that the highest amount of fresh weight of flower (99.5 kg/ha), dry weight of stigma (1.45 kg/ha) and lowest days to emergence was 47 days after planting that related to salicylic acid in 2 mM. More amount of picrocrocin as a saffron flavor was related to salicylic acid in 1 mM. Crocin percentage in the priming treatment with 2 mM salicylic acid was higher than the other two levels; amount of safranal was high at 1mM. Totally, results of this experiment indicated that planting large mother’s corms with salicylic acid led to improvement of some quantitative and qualitative characteristics of saffron stigma.
Agriculture
Hamid-reza Fallahi; Sohrab Mahmoodi
Abstract
The combined effect of water and nutrient availability is one of the most important factors in corm growth and flowering of saffron. In addition, it seems that applying water in amounts more than conventional amounts in semi-arid areas can be more useful in saffron cultivation. Accordingly, the effects ...
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The combined effect of water and nutrient availability is one of the most important factors in corm growth and flowering of saffron. In addition, it seems that applying water in amounts more than conventional amounts in semi-arid areas can be more useful in saffron cultivation. Accordingly, the effects of irrigation regimes [two and four weeks intervals equal to application of 3600 (conventional irrigation treatment) and 7200 m3.ha-1 (extensive-irrigation treatment) during saffron growth], as well as organic (30 ton.ha-1 cow manure based on soil and manure analysis results) and chemical fertilizers (220, 150 and 100 kg.ha-1 urea, super-phosphate and potassium sulfate, respectively) with a control treatment (no-fertilizer) are studied on some physiological growth indices, corm production and flowering of saffron in this experiment. The experiment was conducted as factorial based on a randomized completely block design with three replications in Sarayan county, Iran, during 2014-2016. Vegetative growth indices were studied during the first growth cycle, while flowering indices were measured during the second growth season. Total biomass has an increasing trend during saffron growth cycle in all treatments. This index was higher in cow manure treatment in both levels of water availability, during the last two growth months. Crop growth rate (CGR) was slow (below 3.9 g.m-2.day-1), rapid (3.9-12 g.m-2.day-1) and intermediate (5.5 g.m-2.day-1) in the early (the first 90 days of growth), middle (90-150 days after growth) and late (150-180 days of growth) growth periods. The highest CGR (12 g.m-2.day-1) was obtained in cow manure treatment and 145 days after the first autumnal irrigation. In all treatments, leaf weight ratio (leaf to total plant weight ratio) has a decreasing trend from two months after the first irrigation until the end of the growth cycle and it is slightly higher in fertilization treatments. Cow manure application increased the corm production and total corms weight per plant by 15 and 13%, respectively, compared with the control treatment. The highest mean weight of replacement corms (6.4 g) was shown in combined treatment of cow manure and two weeks' irrigation intervals. The highest values of flower number (98 flower per m2), flower yield (24.3 g.m-2), style yield (0.56 g.m-2) and dry petal yield (3.7 g.m-2) were obtained in plants that had been treated with cow manure and received water in intervals of 4 weeks. In cow manure fertilizer and control treatments, the highest flower and stigma yield were obtained in irrigation intervals of 4 weeks, while in chemical fertilizer treatment, the highest flower and stigma yield were obtained in 2 week irrigation intervals. Therefore, it seems that application of cow manure combined with consumption of 3600 m3.ha-1 is suitable during the first growth cycle of saffron during which corm density and transpiration area are low.
Agriculture
Parviz Rezvani Moghaddam; Alireza Koocheki; Abdollah Molafilabi; S. Mohammad Seyyedi
Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of different levels of applied wheat straw as mulch in different dates on flower characteristics and corms behavior of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in the second year, a field experiment was conducted as factorial layout based on a randomized complete block design with ...
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In order to investigate the effects of different levels of applied wheat straw as mulch in different dates on flower characteristics and corms behavior of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in the second year, a field experiment was conducted as factorial layout based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran in years of 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. The experimental treatments were all combination of different levels of wheat straw as mulch (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 t. ha-1) based on surface applied method in three different dates (June, August and October). The results showed that the applied wheat straw as mulch in different dates had significant effects on flower characteristics of saffron (flower number, fresh and dried flower and stigma+ style yields). Based on these results, applied wheat straw as mulch in October had highest effects on increasing flower number, fresh and dried flower yields (by 46, 61 and 65%, respectively). In addition, applied wheat straw as mulch had significant effects on number and yield of replacement corms. The applied straw as mulch in October increased yield of replacement corms with 12 g or higher weight and total corm yield of saffron by 104 and 103 %, respectively, as compared to control treatment.