Application of the Taguchi Approach in the Evaluation of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) Emergence Affected by Zeolite and Irrigation Scheduling

Sincethe Taguchi approach has been proposed as analternativefor experimental design, this method was used to compare experimental design of saffron (Crocus sativusL.) emergence affected by zeolite and drought stress. For this porpous, an experiment was conducted as factorial layout based on a CRD at three replications in Agricultural Research Station,University ofBirjand during 2013-2014.Zeolite in three levels: Zero (Z0), one (Z2) and two (Z3) as weight percentage and irrigation scheduling in three levels: traditional irrigation (I1), deficit irrigation as 70% moisture depletion (I2) and full irrigation (I3) considered as treatments. Then, this study also designed with Taguchi layout (L9).Emergence parameters consisted of: emergence rate (R50), emergence uniformity (GU), time for emergence 5 to 95 percentage of corms (D05, D50, D90 and D95). Results showed that zeolite level had no significant effect on emergence parameters but irrigation scheduling decreased D90 and D95 (P≤0.05). The D90 reduction were 10 (I2) and 16% (I3) compared with control (I1), respectively.D95 for I2 and I3 decreased about 11 and 17% compared with I1, respectively. Zeolite level and irrigation scheduling (interaction level) showed a significant effect on D90 and D95 (P≤0.05) and the lowest value for mentioned parameters observed in Z3I3. Z3I3 determined as the best treatment based on Taguch method and had the highest value for R50 and the lowest value for GU, D50 and D95. Maximum root mean square error (RMSE) for Taguchi approach was 0.9946 day compared with Factorial layout. Maximum value ofmean bias error (MBE) was 0.8945 day. In order to save time and cost, based on the results, it is recommended to use Taguchi approach for evaluation of plantsemergence.