Application of Fertilizers for Increased Saffron Yield

Abstract

Research was undertaken to determine the response of newly planted saffron to the application of different levels of nitrogen (0, 50 and 100 kg N · ha−1 · year−1), phosphorus (0, 25, and 50 kg P2O5 · ha−1 · year−1), and composted cow manure (0, 20, and 40 tons · ha−1 · year−1) in terms of fresh flower weight (FFW), saffron yield (SY) and leaf biomass. The experiments were conducted in Birjand, and Ghaen, Khorasan province, Iran, from 1991 to 1993. Significant differences were found between the two locations and among the years within each location for FFW and SY. Averaged over all treatments and years, mean values for FFW and SY were 644.3 and 9.1 kg · ha−1, respectively, at Birjand, and 296.0 and 3.7 kg · ha−1, respectively, at Ghaen. At Birjand, mean FFW in the three consecutive years was 229.0, 796.2, and 907.8 kg · ha−1 and mean SY was 3.4, 10.6, and 13.4 kg · ha−1. The corresponding means at Ghaen were 87.5, 225.9, and 574.7 kg · ha−1 for FFW and 1.3, 3.2, and 6.7 kg · ha−1 for SY. Simple correlation coefficients between FFW and SY were positive and highly significant. At both locations, FFW and SY increased significantly from year to year. The rate of increase, however, decreased with the age of the saffron field because of overcrowding of new corms. Different combinations of fertilizers had either a negative or nonsignificant effect on FFW and SY. The application of phosphorus fertilizer did not result in increased FFW and SY. The application of 40 tons · ha−1 of cow manure in the first year followed by no fertilizer in the second year and by 20 tons · ha−1 in the third year increased FFW and SY at Birjand. The use of 100 kg · ha−1 nitrogen only in the third year also increased FFW and SY at Birjand. At Ghaen, only the application of 50 kg · ha−1 nitrogen in the third year resulted in increased FFW and SY.

Effect of mother corm dimension and sowing time on stigma yield, daughter corms and qualitative aspects of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in a Mediterranean environment

“…22 The stigma yield obtained in the present experiment was very high compared with previous reports. 18,20,23 This result may be attributed to the large mean size of corms (3.5 cm diameter) used here, which belonged to the middle-high size class, compared with the corms commonly commercialised.…”

Effects of Nano Fertilizer Application and Maternal Corm Weight on Flowering at Some Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) Ecotypes

“…Behzad et al, (1992) stated that organic matter and cow manure applications elevated the fertility of soils in saffron cultivation. Some of the earlier studies on saffron argued that chemical fertilization alone did not much improve flower yield, unless applied together with organic material such as cow manure and sawdust (McGimpsey, et al, 1997;Behnia, et al, 1999;Unal and Cavusoglu, 2005). Rico et al, (2011) stated that nanotechnology have positive effects on plants included enhanced germination percentage and rate; length of root and shoot, and their ratio; and vegetative biomass of seedlings in many crop plants.…”

Saffron Crop (Golden Crop) in Modern Sustainable Agricultural Systems

“…They also observed that annual distribution of 50 kg/ha of nitrogen increased saffron yields and that phosphorus and potassium seems unnecessary. Sadeghi [27] reports promising results of applying chemical fertiliser, while, in a three-year experiment in two sites in Iran, Behnia et al [28] found contrasting results on nitrogen fertiliser, and no effect was shown by the application of phosphorus. Urea foliar fertilisation applied on saffron in winter (from January to March) resulted in a significant increase in flower number in a two-year experiment carried out in Iran [30].…”