Agriculture
Faezeh Zaefarian; Abbas Jalali; Hamed Kaveh; Fatemh Delavarnia
Abstract
The present research was conducted in order to achieve the best method of planting and obtaining the maximum yield of flowers and stigmas of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in two stages in Sari Plain. The first stage was carried out in the research farm of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources ...
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The present research was conducted in order to achieve the best method of planting and obtaining the maximum yield of flowers and stigmas of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in two stages in Sari Plain. The first stage was carried out in the research farm of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University during 2021-2022 as split plots on randomized complete blocks design with three replications, in which the experimental treatments included drainage depth (15, 30, and 45 cm) in the main plots and three drainage distances (50, 100 and 150 cm) in the subplots. In the second stage, the produced corms were stored for three months in the incubation environment, and then, the corms were transferred to two different environments of aeroponic and field to evaluate saffron's flower and stigma performance. The measured traits included the number of produced flowers, average flower weight, dry stigma weight in both field and aeroponic, and the amount of safranal, picrocrocin, and crocin and in aeroponic conditions. The evaluation of reproductive traits of saffron under aeroponic showed that with increasing the depth of the drain and decreasing the distance of the drain, traits such as the number of flowers, flower weight, and stigma dry weight increased; when the maximum value of these traits, equivalent to 4744 flowers.m-2, 1423 g.m-2, and 10.7 g.m-2 were observed at 30 cm drainage depth and 100 cm drainage distance, which did not have a significant difference with 45 cm drainage depth treatment and 100 cm drainage distance. In addition, the results showed that the amount of picrocrocin decreased with increasing the depth of the drain and the distance of the drain. In addition, no significant difference was observed between different treatments for crocin content. Comparing the reproductive traits of plants under two cultivation conditions, namely air, and field, revealed a reduction of 21%, 20%, and 12% in the number of flowers, fresh flower weight, and dry weight of stigma, respectively, within the field conditions. In summary, the findings suggest that, for optimal saffron production in coastal areas, the propagation of corms in the field at depths of 30 cm and 100 cm with proper drainage, followed by flowering of the propagated corms through aeroponic cultivation, could be a viable and economically sound approach for one-year saffron cultivation in the Sari plain region.
Other subject about saffron
Bi bi Marzieh Razavizadeh; Abdollah Molafilabi; Ali Faezian; Noora Arabshahi Delooei
Abstract
The effect of sound waves on saffron corms in the controlled environment and aeroponic cultivation on the amount of flowering and production of saffron stigma are investigated in this study. Sound waves with a sound pressure level of 77 decibel for 15 minutes a day were induced into two groups of corms. ...
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The effect of sound waves on saffron corms in the controlled environment and aeroponic cultivation on the amount of flowering and production of saffron stigma are investigated in this study. Sound waves with a sound pressure level of 77 decibel for 15 minutes a day were induced into two groups of corms. In the first group, the effects of sound waves with frequencies of 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz and also a type of classical music sound on saffron corms in different periods of flowering induction, flowering and the whole period (flowering formation) were studied. In the second group, this test was performed on bulbs only in the flowering period with single frequencies of 4, 8, 12 and 16 kHz. Also, the effect of sound application time in 15, 30 and 60 minutes per day at 16 kHz frequency on the corms was investigated. Statistical results showed that in the first group, induction of single frequency sound led to production of flowers and also saffron stigma amounts less than or equal to that of the control group. However, these differences were not significant except for the treatment on flowering period at 500 Hz (p < 0.05). The application of musical sound in different stages of corm growth reduced its flowering efficiency compared to the control group. Among the treatments of the second group, the mean values of number of flowers at 4 and 8 kHz frequencies were higher than that of the control group. In the treatment with a frequency of 4 kHz, which produced the highest amount of flowers and stigmas, the flowering efficiency of saffron corms increased more than 4.0%. Also, increasing the duration of sound application from 15 min to 30 and 60 min per day caused a significant increase in the number of flowers and the flowering efficiencies had increased by 6.0 and 10.4% compared to that of the control group during 30 and 60 min, respectively.
