Evaluation of different levels of municipal waste vermicompost on the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in the second year of the experiment

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most important and precious medicinal plants in the world. In order to investigate the effects of different of municipal waste vermicompost on vegetative and reproductive characteristics of leaf and corm of saffron, an experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, University of Birjand during the growing season of 2015. The treatments included four levels of municipal waste vermicompost (0, 5, 10 and 15 t.ha-1). Results showed that municipal waste vermicompost in the second year improved the reproductive characteristics so that the highest flower yield was obtained from 10 t.ha-1 municipal waste vermicompost (22.5g.m-2) and the highest dry stigma yield was obtained from 5 t.ha-1 municipal waste vermicompost (0.44g.m-2). The highest average leaf number (8.36), average fresh weight and dry weight of leaf (0.33 and 0.099 g, respectively) were obtained in plants treated with 15 t.ha-1 municipal waste vermicompost and the highest leaf length (249.3 mm) was obtained at 10 t.ha-1. Application of this organic fertilizer could have a significant effect on chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll content and SPAD. The highest photosynthetic pigments were obtained from application of 10 t.ha-1 municipal waste vermicompost. The characteristics of the corm including the number of cormel, fresh and dry weight of cormel and number of cormel buds were affected by municipal waste vermicompost treatment. The highest number of cormel was obtained from plants treated with 10 t.ha-1. Also results showed that treatment of 5 t.ha-1 of municipal waste vermicompost had the greatest effect on fresh and dry weight of cormel. This treatment improved the number of cormel (33/1) as compared with control (5). Thus, results showed that municipal waste vermicompost had strong impact on vegetative and reproductive characteristics of saffron.