The Investigation of Genetic Diversity of Saffron Ecotypes Traits under Chilling Stress

In order to investigate the effects of chilling stress on saffron plant, a completely randomized design as pot cultivation with four replicates on five ecotypes of saffron including: (Torbat Heydariyeh, Ferdows, Gonabad, Ghaen, Kashmar) was performed. Two temperature conditions 25° C (non-stress conditions) and 5° C (stress conditions) were applied to the ecotypes in the growth chamber (germinator) and twelve morphological traits were measured. The results showed that there was a significant difference in the most studied traits at 1% level. The results of factor analysis showed that three components totally explained 84.6% of the studied traits under non-stress conditions and four components totally explained 86.12% of the studied traits under stress conditions. Cluster analysis under non-stress conditions revealed that Ghaen, Gonabad, Kashmar and Ferdows ecotypes were in the first cluster and Torbat Heydariyeh ecotype in the second cluster. Similarly, Cluster analysis under stress conditions revealed that the Torbat Heydariyeh and Ferdows ecotypes were in the first cluster, the Kashmar and Gonabad ecotypes were in the second cluster, and the Ghaen ecotype was in the third cluster. The discriminant analysis showed a function with Eigenvalue (61.51%) explained 100% of ecotypes variation under non-stress condition while two functions explained 100% of ecotypes variation under stress condition, with only the first function had a specific eigenvalue greater than 1. According to the group membership prediction table, the ecotypes in each of the three groups of dendrogram cuts were correctly divided by 100% probability. It can be concluded that the ecotypes of Torbat-e-Heydariyeh and Ferdows which grouped in one cluster and had the highest biologic yield under chilling conditions can be recommended for cultivation in cold regions.