Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Academic member of Agricultural Engineering Research Department, Semnan (Shahrood), Agricultural Research and Education and Natural Resources Research Center, AREEO, Shahrood, lran.
2 Agricultural Engineering Research Department, Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO)
Abstract
This experiment was conducted in order to investigate the effect of planting speed and corm density on saffron yield in the lands of Semnan province in Iran (Shahrood city), Agricultural Research and Education and Natural Resources Research Center. The experiment was factorial in the form of a randomized complete block design with 9 treatments in 3 replications in years of 2022 and 2023. The treatments studied at nine levels included three forward speeds of 4, 5 and 6 kmhr-1 and three corm planting densities (70, 100 and 120 cormsm-2). Technical factors (field capacity, operation time, fuel consumption( and saffron characteristics (number of flowers per unit area, flower weight and saffron yield (dry stigma)) was measured. The results showed that the effect of planter speed on the studied traits of saffron was not statistically significant. The amount of corm density on the examined traits of saffron (number of flowers per unit, flower weight and saffron yield (dry stigma)) was statistically significant (P<0.01). The highest number of flowers (67.2 per square meter) was related to the density of 120 corms per square meter, and at the densities of 100 and 70 corms per square meter, the number of flowers was 57.7 and 53.2 per square meter, respectively. Among different corm densities, the highest dry stigma weight (0.28 gm-2) was related to the density of 120 cormsm-2. So that the high density (120 cormsm-2) increased the number and weight of flowers and the yield of saffron (dry stigma) per unit area. Planting time and tractor fuel consumption were calculated as 1.5 hours per hectare and 23 liters per hectare respectively. Due to the high efficiency of the planting device, the use of fully automatic planters, in addition to saving fuel consumption, reduces the time of planting operations and its timely completion.
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