Effect of mother corm weight and foliar application of nutrients on flower and corm yield of Spanish and Iranian saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

The corm size, nutrient management and corm type are the most important factors that may affect the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of saffron (Crocus sativus L.). In order to study the effect of mother corm size and nutrient foliar application on flower and corm yield of Spanish and Iranian Saffron landrace, an experiment was conducted with factorial arrangement based on randomized complete block design with three replications during two growing seasons (2013-14 and 2014-15) at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran .The saffron corm type was considered in two levels (Iranian corm and Spanish corm), mother corm size were in three levels (1- 8g, 8.1- 15g, 15.1- 23g) and nutrient foliar application were in two levels (control and sprayed leaves with 7% micro and macro nutrients). The results showed that the effect of different mother corm size, corm type and nutrient foliar application on the number of flowers, flower fresh and dry weight (stigma style) were significant. The highest number of flowers (48.6 flower.m-2), flower fresh weight (24.3 g.m-2) and saffron (stigma style) dry weight (0.25 g.m-2) were obtained in 15.1-23g mother corm size, and the lowest were obtained in 8g > mother corms. In contrast, nutrient foliar application had not significant effect on total produced daughter corms. However, the highest number of flowers (43.7 flower.m-2), flower fresh weight (21.8 g.m-2) and stigmas dry weight (0.23 g.m-2) were obtained from Iranian corms in the second year. Hence, the use of appropriate weight for planting Iranian corms (over 15 g) with nutrient of foliar application can be useful for increasing the performance of the flowers and saffron corms.