Effect of Chicken Manure Concentrate on Antioxdant Activity and Secondary Metabolites of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

The effects of applications of chicken manure on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) were evaluated under field conditions. Treatments were 4 levels of chicken manure (0, 5, 10 and 15 t.ha-1). The experiment was designed in randomized block design with three replications at the Research station of Faculty of Agriculture University of Birjand during growing season of 2015. The main secondary metabolites saffron (crocin, picrocrocin and safranal), antocyanin and total phenol were influenced by chicken manure treatments. The highest total phenol (9.078 mg.100 g dry weight-1) and antocyanin (26.70 mg.100 g dry weight-1) were obtained in plants treated with 5t.ha-1 of chicken manure. But, no significant difference was found in antioxidant activity under chicken manure treatments. The highest crocin (86.24%), picrocrocin (65.53%) and safranal (29.92%) were obtained in plants treated with 15, 10 and 5 t.ha-1 chicken manure, respectively using these treatments caused 57 and 29 % increase compared to control. but there was no significant difference between 5, 10 and 15 t.ha-1 chicken manure. Generally, the findings of current study revealed that the use of 5ton ha-1 chicken manure had strong impact on qualitative characteristics of saffron in this study.