Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of farm age and region type on yield and soil chemical properties of saffron fields in Birjand county, an experiment was carry out as by using regrasion analysis and variance analysis factorial layout with 9 replications in birjand during growing season of 2011-2012. The factors were included three farm ages (two, four and six years old) and three region types (Shams abad, Behdan and Mahmuei). Soil characteristics such as organic matter, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, absorbable P and K, percent of lime and total N were measured at each region and their effects on stigma yield of saffron were evaluated. The results showed that the age of saffron farms had significant effect on chemical properties of soil (except on lime and potassium percentage). The saffron stigma yield and soil properties were affected significantly by regions. A significant relationship was also observed between farm age and saffron stigma yield in all studied regions. Stigma yield of saffron increased (300, 233 and 246 percent for Mahmouei, Shamsabad and Behdan, respectively) when farms age was increased to four years. After this age, saffron yield was decresed up to 50, 48 and 54 percent at the same locations, respectively. The results indicated that soil chemical characteristics were different in studied regions and it along with farm age had significant effect on yield of saffron fields in Birjand county.
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