Saffron Agronomy and Technology

Abstract To evaluate the efficacy of various doses of Haloxyfop-R-methyl herbicide, both with and without adjuvants, on the yield components of saffron (Crocus sativus L.), a factorial experiment was conducted in the Sarayan region during the 2023 growing seasons. The study was implemented using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in a four-year-old saffron field. Treatments consisted of four herbicide doses (0, 54, 81, and 108 g a.i. ha⁻¹, representing the weedy control, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the recommended dose, respectively) and three adjuvant levels (no adjuvant, Citogate, and corn oil at 0.5% v/v). Herbicide applications were performed in February 2023, and yield characteristics, including flower number, fresh and dry flower weight, and dry stigma weight, were determined at the end of the harvest period in early December 2023. Results revealed that the highest flower number occurred in the hand-weeding treatment (a 77.76% increase compared to the weedy control), which did not differ significantly from the 100% and 75% recommended doses applied with Citogate (77.43% and 69.21% increases, respectively). The application of 75% and 100% of the recommended herbicide doses combined with Citogate resulted in fresh flower weight increases of 59.09% and 60.32%, respectively, exhibiting a performance comparable to the hand-weeding treatment (62.25%). While no significant differences were observed between adjuvant levels at the 0 and 50% herbicide doses, Citogate significantly enhanced the aforementioned traits at the 75% and 100% dose levels. Furthermore, the weedy control resulted in a 32% reduction in fresh flower weight compared to the weed-free check. The interaction between herbicide dose and adjuvant showed that the addition of corn oil increased dry stigma weight by 4.66%, 2.82%, 6.11%, and 2.98% at the 0, 50%, 75%, and 100% dose levels, respectively, relative to the no-adjuvant control. In comparison, Citogate supplementation led to more pronounced increases of 8.27%, 9.65%, 45.97%, and 43.22%, respectively. Consequently, adjuvant application significantly improved saffron dry stigma weight, with Citogate exhibiting a superior effect over corn oil. The maximum dry stigma weight was recorded in the hand-weeding treatment (94.51% higher than the weedy control), showing no statistically significant difference from the 100% and 75% recommended doses combined with Citogate (93.04% and 80.72% increases, respectively). In contrast, the weedy control led to a 35.20% reduction in dry stigma weight, significantly differing from all other treatments. Overall, the findings suggest that integrating adjuvants, particularly Cytogate, with Haloxyfop-R-methyl can effectively optimize saffron stigma yield.

Abstract This study aimed to explore the agronomic and economic implications of intercropping cumin and saffron in the Ghohestan region of South Khorasan province at a private research farm, under the supervision of the faculty of agriculture, University of Birjand, during the 2022-2023 period. To assess saffron's performance when intercropped with cumin, an experiment was set up based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in a uniform three-year-old saffron field. The experimental treatments involved different densities of cumin cultivation in the saffron field, including 0, 30, 60, and 120 plants per square meter (0, 25, 50, and 100% of its optimal density, respectively). The findings revealed that the LER index exceeded one in all treatment groups. The highest saffron stigma yield, recorded at 0.41 kg/ha, was achieved with an intercropping density of 60 cumin plants per square meter. The highest LER values were 1.94 and 1.92, obtained in the treatments with 30 and 60 cumin plants per square meter, respectively. Additionally, the Relative Value Total (RVT) was above one across all intercropping ratios. The greatest Intercropping Advantage index (IA), recorded at 0.074, was also achieved with the 60 plants per square meter cumin treatment. Consequently, increasing the cumin planting density in saffron fields, particularly at 60 plants per square meter, did not significantly affect saffron yield, leading to a recommendation for farmers in this region to adopt this practice for improved land use and economic benefit.

Abstract Modifications in saffron quality characteristics due to storage time between samples harvested from two consecutive years have not been studied well. For this purpose, saffron samples harvested from 2016 and 2017 were analyzed using proton transfer reaction-time of flight-mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS) and ISO 3632 trade standard procedures to determine volatile compounds as well as crocin and picrocrocin contents, respectively. The results of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) analysis revealed that 11 main compounds including safranal, acetic acid, 2(5H)-furanone, isobutanal, biogenic aldehyde fragment, 4-ketoisophorone, acetaldehyde, butyrolactone, acetone/propanal, methanol, and isophorone were responsible for the overall VOCs profile of saffron, as accounted for more than 80% of the identified VOCs. Comparisons between samples stored from two years showed that safranal, acetic acid, 2(5H)-furanone, biogenic aldehyde fragment, and butyrolactone compounds were significantly increased for samples stored from 2016 (between 56-82 percent) compared with the samples obtained from 2017. On the contrary, isophorone isomers contents as safranal precursors, decreased their contents relatively. Similarly, crocin and picrocrocin contents measured by ISO method differed significantly between samples of two studied years. For all the studied samples, color and flavor factors of saffron reduced by 20 and 14% on the average for  samples stored from 2016 in comparison with amples obtained from 2017, respectively. According to results of principal component analysis, change in crocin, picrocrocin, and main volatile compounds of saffron including safranal, acetic acid, 2(5H)-furanone, isobutanal, and isophorone could be considered as an indicator for distinguishing the current year’s harvested samples from the samples stored since previous years.

Abstract Due to climate change it seems that the suitable area for production of saffron is shifting towards the Northern area of Khorasan. On the other hand, corm density and nutrient management are important factors in saffron production. To find out the credibility of this assumption, an experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete blocks design arranged in split plot with three replications in a field located 10 km of Shirvan during the 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 growing seasons. Corm density (50, 100 and 150 corm.m^-2) and different amounts of chemical and organic manure [No fertilizer (Control), amount of urea, triple super phosphate and potassium sulfate 100, 100, 50 (C1), 200, 200, 100 (C2) and 300, 300, 150 (C3), cow manure consumption based on 100 kg.ha^-1 urea (3066 kg.ha^-1), based on 200 kg.ha^-1 urea (6132 kg.ha^-1) and based on 300 kg.ha^-1 urea (9198 kg.ha^-1)] were allocated to the main and sub-plots, respectively. Three year average of harvest showed that flower and corm traits improved with increasing corm density and cow manure consumption, while the highest density compared to minimum density caused increasing flower number, fresh flower yield, dried stigma yield, daughter corm number and corm yield by 35, 61, 29, 180 and 122 percent, respectively. Also the highest amount of cow manure compared to control increased flower number, fresh flower yield, dried stigma yield and corm yield by 32, 51, 38 and 51 percentages, respectively. Therefore, more flower and corm yield were obtained in 9198 kg.ha^-1 cow manure consumption with 150 corm.m^-2 planting density. Therefore, it seems that the production of saffron is suitable using with organic manure compared with chemical manure. Moreover, saffron planting with high corm density is a solution for improving the yield of saffron in the early years of planting.

Abstract Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most important crops and medicinal plants in Iran. Appropriate application of nutrients has special important role on replacement corm growth and flower yield of saffron. In order to investigate the effects of different levels of soil and foliar nutrients applications by using mixture fertilizer on replacement corm production and flower yield of saffron, an experiment was conducted by using a factorial layout based on complete randomized block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad during 2011- 2012 growing season. The experimental treatments were all combinations of four levels of soil nutrition (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg.ha^-1) and three levels of foliar spray (0, 5 and 10 per 1000). Results of variance analysis showed that the soil application of treatments had positive significant effects on weight of replacement corms and number and weight of flower and stigma yield of saffron but these treatments had no significant effects on total corm number. The number and yield of replacement corms and flowers were not affected by simple effect of foliar spray and soil and foliar applications interactions. The results of this research showed that the using 150 kg.ha^-1 of nutrients soil application in early March had more positive and significant effect on yield of fresh and dry flower (120 and 963 kg.ha^-1, respectively), yield of fresh and dry stigma (45.5 and 7.90 kg.ha^-1, respectively) and weight of replacement corms (1646 g.m^-2) than other treatments but foliar application of nutrients in this time had no significant effects on flower and corm yield of saffron.

Abstract In order to study and compare chemical and non-chemical methods of weed management in saffron (Crocus sativus) fields, two field experiments were carried out in a randomized completely block design with three replications at Research Field Station of Gonabad during 2009 to 2011. Treatments included cover crops of barely, Mushroom bed mulch, herbicides of haloxyfop R methyl ester (EC10%), iodosulfuron methyl sodium+mesosulfuron. methyl + mefenpyr. diethy (WG6%) l, hand weeding (DF75%) and control. For determining the ability of treatments for weed control, dry matter of weed, leaf dry weight of saffron, stigma and saffron flower yields were determined. Results showed that dominant weed species were mouse barely (Hordeum murinum), wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) Hoary cress (Cardaria draba), and yarrow (Achillea millefolium). Herbicides of iodosulfuron methyl sodium + mesosulfuron methyl + mefen pyr. Diethy (WG6%) destroyed grasses and broadleaf, but it destroyed saffron plant too. Haloxyfop. R methyl ester damaged grasses but decreased stigma yield and leaf of saffron. Applied mulch was not be able to control the weeds, however, it increased saffron stigma yield. Cover crops of barley significantly decreased weed dry matter weights. Barley caused least weeds dry matter weight similar to hand weeding. In conclusion, the treatments of cover crops showed the best performances in weed control and saffron yield comparing to other studied weed management methods.