The Relationship between Corm Weight and Total Flower and Leaf Number in Saffron

Saffron (Crocus sativus) is an opportunity high valuable crop that is belonged to Iridaceae family. This crop is a perennial, herbaceous and stemless crop which comprehensive literatures on its agronomic aspects are scarce. In order to study the effects of corm weight on flower production of saffron two experiments were conducted during 1989 to 1992 and 1990 to 1992. For this purpose, A field was sown at 20 Sept. 1989 and flower number was recorded each day after first flowering day during 4 successive years (EXP1). Another field was sown in 20 Sept. 1990 and flower number was recorded same, during three successive years (EXP2). To study the effects of corm weight on saffron flower production, a wide range of corm weights were sown in 10 lines in each experiment. In addition to flower number, leaf number of corms during first three years, also, was recorded. Finally the relationships of corm weight with leaf number and flower number were studied. Our results indicated that although total flower number was increased with corm weight increasing in many cases, but the relationship between corm weight and total flower number was not considerable (R2EXP1=0.23, R2EXP2=0.2), but the relationship between corm weight and total leaf number was considerable (R2=0.53). Also, our results indicated that middle ranges of corm weights are most suitable weight for sowing and very small or very big corms are not satisfactory.

کلیدواژه ها:

Crocus sativus ، flower number ، production