Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Abstract
Saffron (Corocus sativus) is known as one of the most valuable medicinal and spice plants in worldwide. This plant is one of the most important crops in South Khorasan Province. Despite the many researches on saffron cultivation in many regions in the country with different climatic conditions but there were few studies about saffron emergence as most important growth stage. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of P, Ca and soil Zeolites at 20 and 60 g.kg-1 levels on time and percentage of saffron emergence. This experiment was conducted based on a completely randomized design with seven treatments and nine replications in Birjand Agriculture Research Field during year of 2012. The results of this study showed that the effect of zeolite type was significant on saffron emergence time (p≤0.01) and percentage of saffron emergence (p≤0.05). There were not a significant effect on time and percentage of emergence by using different zeolite levels. There was an interaction between type and level of zeolite on saffron emergence time (p≤0.001). Emergence time was decreased by using zeolite at a level of 20 g.kg-1 except in soil zeolite, while percentage of emergence was significantly increased only in P and soil (at a level of 60 g.kg-1 ) zeolite. Thus, using K zeolite can increase the percentage of emergence and decrease emergence time of saffron corms.
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