Investigation of effects of biofertilizers and corm direction in soil on some saffron’s agronomic traits

SaThis experiment was conducted in order to investigate the effects of biofertilizers and corm direction in soil on agronomic traits of saffron as factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications at research farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Tehran University during 2010 to 2013. Treatments included corm direction in two levels (horizental and vertical) and biofertilizers (mycorrhiza, biophosphorous, and no use of biofertilizer or control). The results indicated that in both years of corm study, horizontal direction of saffron corm in soil was superior to vertical direction for corm diameter and number per square meter. Also, in first year, fresh weight of corms in horizontal direction of corms was 23.6% higher than vertical direction, but in second year, vertical direction caused more fresh weight of corm (6.3%) than the horizontal direction. In the first year, the most fresh and dry weight of corms was obtained in integrated treatment of mycorrhiza and horizontal direction of corms in soil. In second year, the most of these traits was observed in integrated treatment of biophosphorous and horizontal direction of corms in soil. Fresh and dry weight of flower and stigma increased in horizontal direction treatment compared to vertical direction of corms. Investigation of biofertilizer effect on fresh and dry weight of flower, petal and stigma showed that the highest and the lowest of these traits were in biophosphorous and mycorrhiza fertilizers, respectively. According to results, in both years of study of flower traits, the best treatment for dry weight of flower and petal and fresh weight of stigma was integrated treatment horizontal direction of corm under the application of biophosphorous fertilizer.