نشریه زراعت و فناوری زعفران
سال چهارم شماره 3 (پیاپی 13، پاییز 1395)

In order to investigate the effects of different municipal waste compost levels of and maternal corm weights on yield and vegetative characteristics of saffron, an experiment was conducted with a factorial arrangement based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, University of Birjand during the growing season of 2014-2015. The treatments were four levels of municipal waste compost (0, 5, 10 and 20 t.ha-1) and three mother corm weights (0.1- 4, 4.1- 8 and 8.1- 12 g). The traits included the number of flower, fresh weight of flower, stigma and fresh weight of corm with scale, weight and diameter replacement and number of buds. The results showed that the effect of municipal waste compost was significant on total weight corm with scale, diameter of center corm and replacement corm, weight of fresh flower and stigma. The highest corm weight and number of replacement corms were obtained for treatment 10 t. ha-1 compost (21.33 g. plant -1 and 2.33 number, respectively), while the control had the lowest values (with 16.4 g. plant -1 and 1.66 number). The effect of mother corm weight was significant on the vegetative characteristics of saffron. The highest corm weight with scale, diameter of replacement, flower yield and fresh weight of flower and stigma were observed for 8.1-12 g. The most fresh and dry weight of stigma (0.31 and 0.11 g. m -1, respectively) were observed from treatment mother corm weight 8.1-12 g, while the lowest values (0.06 and 0.03 g. m -1) were 0.1- 4g. Interaction between municipal waste compost and corm weight had a significant effect on the weight of fresh flower, sepal, stigma and the number of lateral buds and the highest fresh weight of flower (9.36 g. m-2) and stigma (0.41 g. m-2) were observed for treatment 10 t. ha-1 and 8.1-12g. Generally, the findings of the current study revealed that the use of municipal waste compost (10 t. ha-1) and large mother corms (8/1-12 g) had positive effects on corm growth and flower yield of saffron.

In order to study genetic diversity and some of the quality and agronomic traits in saffron, six cultivated ecotypes were collected from different regions of the Khorasan province (Mashhad, Torbat-Jam, Gonabad, Torbat-Heydarieh, Qaen and Birjand) and they were evaluated during two cropping seasons in 2011-13 in the research farm of the agricultural faculty, Urmia University, Urmia-Iran. The farming results showed that there were significant differences between the ecotypes in the studied agronomic and qualitative traits. Thus,, the cluster analysis grouped ecotypes Torbat-Heydarieh, Mashhad and Torbat-Jam in a cluster and ecotypes Birjand, Qaen and Gonabad in the other cluster. The results of mean comparison also showed that ecotypes Torbat-Heydarieh and Mashhad were the best saffron ecotypes in the Urmia condition. On the other hand, the genetic results showed that 22 of 30 SSR primers (73%) detected a total of 44 polymorphic alleles (average 2). The average of Shannon index (I), genetic diversity (h) and polymorphic information content (PIC) were estimated to be 0.688, 0.424 and 0.402, respectively. These results not only clarified the existence of genetic diversities among saffron ecotypes, but also, the genetic diversities were proven with other analyses such as analysis of molecular variance. The results of cluster analysis of Darwin grouped each ecotype of Birjand, Mashhad and Gonabad in a cluster and three ecotypes. Torbat-Heydarieh, Qaen and Torbat-Jam were placed in the same cluster because of their high genetic similarity. This grouping was confirmed by principal coordinate analysis. It was notable that high genetic similarities were estimated between saffron ecotypes (65-90%). Overall, the results of this research not only introduced microsatellite molecular markers as useful tools for evaluating genetic diversity and grouping of saffron ecotypes, but also confirmed that saffron is not a monomorphic plant and we can identify useful genetic diversities for breeding programs.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a subtropical and valuable crop which is reproduced by corms. Due to the importance of corm weight in saffron yield, it is important to study the different factors that affect yield such as drought stress. For this purpose, this research was conducted as a factorial design based on completely randomized design (CRD) in the Agricultural Research Station of the University of Birjand during the period 2013-2015. The treatments consisted of Zeolite at four rates (0: Z0, 0.5: Z1, 1: Z2 and 2: Z3 as weight percentage) and irrigation management at three levels (traditional: I1, deficit irrigation as 70% moisture depletion: I2 and full irrigation: I3) with three replications. The results showed that zeolite rates has a significant effect on corm weight, number of corms less than 2gr, number of 6-8gr corms and number of replacement corms (P≤0.01). Irrigation management also has a significant effect on corm weight (P≤0.01), number of corms 6-8gr and number of replacement corms (P≤0.05). The treatments with no zeolite amended (Z0I1, Z0I2 and Z0I3) showed a reduction in corm weight compared to Z3I3 (P≤0.05). Z3I3, Z3I2 and Z3I3 showed an increase in the number of replacement corms while Z0I1 and Z0I2 had the least number of replacement corms. In conclusion, Z2I1 is recommended as the best treatment by considering the reduction in zeolite and water used, which increased corm weight by 26.64%, 23.88% and 17.81% compared to Z0I1, Z0I2 and Z0I3, respectively.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a valuable product that is moderately resistant to drought and is cultivated in environments with very different climatic conditions. The most important chemical compositions of saffron include crocin and crocetin derivatives. Saffron is used as a food colouring and flavouring agent in the food industry. Moreover, it is utilized in folk medicine as antispasmodic, carminative, sedative, anti-depression and for heart disease. In this study, saffron samples from different altitudes, i.e. Marand with altitude of 1360m and Kashmar with altitude of 1000m above sea level were collected and dried in the same conditions and compared with commercial samples. Three major metabolites (crocin, picrocrocin and safranal) were quantified in both altitudes by Spectrophotometry. The results obtained showed that saffron samples from Marand had the most amounts of crocin and picrocrocin (absorbance: 306 and 118). Also, after extraction, antioxidant activity was quantified by the DPPH free radical scavenging method. The results indicated that saffron samples from Marand had higher concentration of these constituents and antioxidant activity in comparison to that of samples from Kashmar. However, due to reduction of rain and increasing drought in the Azerbaijan region, cultivation of saffron in Marand is recommended on the basis of the results of this research and high yield and quality of saffron.

The main component responsible for color in saffron is crocin with the chemical formula of C44H64O24. Crocin is one of several carotenoids in nature that is soluble in water. This solubility is one of the reasons for its widespread usage as a colorant in food and medicine compared to other carotenoids. The coloring strength of saffron is one of the major factors that determine the quality of the saffron stigma. It will be evaluated with measuring of crocin. Microextraction is the newest and easiest method that can be successfully applied for the preconcentration and separation of crocin in saffron samples. The advantages of this method are faster, cheaper and easier analysis by UV-Vis spectrophotometry in measurement of crocin compared to the chromatographic analysis methods. The studies showed that the type and volume of disperser and extractant solvent have a significant effect on the efficiency of crocin extraction. In this work, acetone as the disperser solvent and dichlorometane as the extractant solvent were found to be suitable combinations. Under the optimal conditions, the calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.15-0.00001 μg mL-1 and the limit of detection (LOD) was calculated based on 3 Sb/m (where, Sb and m are the standard deviation of the blank and slop ratio of the calibration curve respectively) was 0.000008 μg mL-1. The procedure was applied to saffron samples and the good recovery percent for the saffron samples was obtained.

Insurance for agricultural products can be considered to be one of the levers of agricultural development since its use can provide greater security for agricultural producers and provide more favorable conditions for attracting private investment in the agriculture sector. In this study, we used the data which was gathered in 2013 from 118 Qaeni Saffron farmers and examined the factors that affect the acceptance of Saffron insurance using Logit, Probit and Heckman two-stage Tobit. The results showed that among the estimated models, since Heckman two-stage can distinguish between the factors influencing the adoption of insurance and the factors affecting it, it is more strength paramount. The results of estimation of variables with the three models showed that farmer education, annual income, the usage of banking facilities, area under cultivation, educational services of agricultural demonstrators, insurance knowledge index and technical-crop knowledge index have a positive impact on the acceptance and insurance of saffron, and only the age variable has a negative impact on the insurance and the amount of the saffron insurance. According to the results, training courses on the benefits of crop insurance in rural areas and increasing farmers awareness of the types of insurance fund services, the insurance period and premium amount, consideration of the officials in charge of the agricultural insurance fund regarding the different income levels and development strategies to expand the use of banking facilities for farmers was suggested.