The effect of Nano iron chelated on the yield and yield components of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in South Khorasan

In order to evaluate the effect of different levels of Nano iron chelated fertilizer on the yield and yield components of saffron a randomized complete block design with three replications and three treatments was conducted in a four-year-old farm in South Khorasan during 2013-2014. Fertilizer treatment included three levels (zero, five, and 10 kg/ha). After the treatment application, traits including, the number of flowers in 50 grams, total number of flowers per m2, fresh and dry stigma weight and fresh flowers weight were measured. Analysis of variance showed a significant difference (P≤ 0/01) for the number of flowers per 50 gram, total number of flowers per m2 and fresh flowers weight in different levels of fertilizer. Mean comparisons showed that the 10 kg of fertilizer had a positive and significant effect on all traits. Correlation analysis indicated a positive and significant correlation between the total number of flowers with fresh and dry stigma weight and fresh flower weight. The results of linear regression analysis showed that the trait of the fresh flower weight justified about 77 percent of the total variations and the results of this analysis were similar with simple correlation analysis. So, dry stigma weight had significant and positive correlation (correlation of 100%) with fresh sigma weight in correlation analysis. Because so far, Chelated iron fertilizer at the nanoscale and microscale in terms of the effect on saffron yield not compared, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Nano-iron on the yield of saffron.