Investigating the Effect of Saffron Plant Age on Its Production in Lorestan Province

Saffron is a very popular medicinal plant and the most expensive spice in the world. It is highly considered in traditional medicine for the treatment of varied diseases. From among Iranian agricultural crops, it is one of the most valuable products. Due to its special characteristics, its production and export can be developed. As the largest producer and exporter of saffron in the world, Iran accounts for more than 90% of global saffron production. In 2018, more than 71% of the global export of saffron belonged to Iran. Lorestan Province is becoming one of the important areas for cultivating this crop due to its natural conditions and farmers’ interest. This study tried to identify the factors affecting the sustainable development of this crop. For this purpose, during the two consecutive years of 2017 and 18, 3 regions in Kuhdasht, Kuhnani, and Khorramabad townships were selected, in which 5 sample farms were chosen based on the field research. The selected farms had a planting history of 1 to 5 years. Several quadrants were established in the farms and the phenological measurements were recorded based on them. The statistics of these farms were collected to determine the required yields. The means and ANOVA comparisons were applied to analyze the results. The studied parameter was farm age from 1 to 5 years in the 3 regions of Kuhdasht, Kuhnani, and Khorramabad townships. In this investigation, saffron flower characteristics and dry weights of stigma were determined simultaneously with daily phenological inspections of the farms. The results in both years revealed that age was the major factor in yield change in all the 3 regions in a way that saffron yield increased with increasing farm age up to 4 years and then decreased. The effects of farm age on saffron flower and stigma yields were statistically significant. It was found that the lowest and highest yields were respectively related to the 1-, 2-, and 5-year-old farms and 3-year-old farms with a peak yield for the 4-year-old farms. During the study of the role of temperature in the two consecutive years, it was observed that the average temperature had been higher in 2017 and thus the flowering duration had decreased. Accordingly, saffron yield in this year compared to 2018 showed a smaller value, which indicated the role of temperature in yield enhancement during the flowering period. Yield differences were significant in the 3 studied regions. The highest and lowest yields were related to Kuhnani and Khorramabad farms, respectively.