Growth and development of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in response to temperature pre-treatment and environmental conditions

Abstract

Climatic indices, such as temperature, have an important role in saffron yield. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of temperature-controlled conditions on the growth and development of saffron. For this purpose, saffron mother corms were initially pre-treated with two temperature levels of 17 and 30 ° C for four days. The treated corms were then planted in a greenhouse. Subsequently, the young plants were transferred to the main field at 4 different times including: i) no transfer, ii) transfer immediately after flowering, iii) transfer 10 days after flowering and iv) transfer 20 days after flowering. Results showed that temperature pre-treatment of corms had no significant effect on studied traits while, time of transferring significantly affected on some traits. The plants kept in the greenhouse had more length and more number of leaves while, those that transferred immediately after flowering had more fresh weight, dry weight and diameter of corm. It seems that the temperature of the greenhouse (23-25 ° C) was suitable for vegetative growth whereas, farm temperature (10-18 ° C) led to further corm attributes.