Assessment of changes in secondary metabolites and growth of saffron under organic fertilizers and drought

Heshmat Omidi | Amir Bostani

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URL :   http://research.shahed.ac.ir/WSR/WebPages/Report/PaperView.aspx?PaperID=159075
Date :  2022/04/28
Publish in :    Journal of Plant Nutrition

Link :  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01904167.2022.2068439
Keywords :Saffron, Chicken manure, Fertilizer, Crocin, Proline, Drought

Abstract :

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Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is an important source of natural Crocin, Picrocrocin, and Safranal, for the use of people, especially those with depression. However, there is no data on the growth of saffron under drought conditions affected by organic fertilizers under drought stress. However, water and nutrition management has a key role in saffron growth and quality. This study aimed to evaluate the improvement of saffron growth and quality by fertilizer management under drought conditions. A two-year field experiment was performed in 2018 and 2019. Experiment treatments were irrigation regimes include control (field capacity) and drought (66 depletion of soil water) and fertilizer management comprise of control (without fertilizing), chicken manure, chemical fertilizer, 25 chicken manure + 75 chemical fertilizer (Ch25M75), 50 chicken manure + 50 chemical fertilizer (Ch50M50), and 75 chicken manure + 25 chemical fertilizer (Ch75M25). Drought reduced saffron growth characteristics, chlorophyll content, and yield. While the amount of proline and soluble carbohydrates increased and the relative water content decreased. However, the content of crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal increased by drought. Besides, mineral nutrition deficit reduced the growth characteristics, yield, and secondary metabolite content in saffron under both irrigation regimes. The integrated fertilizer management involves different proportions of chicken manure and chemical fertilizers were more effective than using only chemical fertilizers or chicken manure to improve the growth and biochemical traits of saffron in both irrigation regimes. Unlike the growth traits, the highest quality of saffron was obtained when the share of chemical fertilizer was higher than chicken manure (3:1). Therefore, the highest quality of saffron was obtained by replacing 25 of chemical fertilizer with chicken manure, and the greatest growth was acquired by replacing 75 of chemical fertilizer with chicken manure. Hence, the reduction of chemical fertilizer and use of chicken manure is recommended to improve saffron yield and quality under drought conditions.