Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Abstract
Saffron is a native plant in eastern part of Iran that it is a perennial plant which can grow up to 5-7 years through its corms. Annually cow manure is added to the soil up to approximately 20-30 t.ha-1 . The main aims of the present research were evaluate some physical and chemical properties of soil in saffron fields over than seven years. Fifty ha saffron fields were selected from Gezic region (is located in southern Khorasan province) in 2007. This experiment was conducted based on a completely randomomized design under six saffron ages as treatment (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 years) and eight replications. Organic matter percentage (%OM), particle organic matter (POM), mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD), field capacity (FC) and permanent wilting point (PWP) water content, total nitrogen (%N) and available phosphorus (P) of soils were measured. The eesults revealed that soil %OM increased over the growing years. There was no significant increased for POM over the growing years. The MWD, FC and PWP were greater for 7-year fields as compared to 1-year fields. The total N and available phosphorus were higher in older fields.
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