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Evaluation of Saffron Yield Affected by Intercropping with Winter Wheat, Soil Fertilizers and Irrigation Regimes in a Semi-arid Region

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Abstract

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is considered the most precious spice in the world, and in Iran. Shortages in irrigation water and fertile land are some of the major constraints in saffron production especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Saffron growers can make a clean and sustainable benefit of the saffron inter-row spaces through the novel strategy of winter-wheat/saffron-base intercropping system. Effects of four different irrigation regimes vis., 40, 60, 80, and 100% of the standard saffron evapotranspiration (ETc), application of two sources of nitrogen [organic (fermented cow) manure] and chemical (granular urea)] and two cropping systems (saffron mono-cropping and saffron-wheat intercropping) on growth and yield of saffron and winter wheat were investigated during four growing seasons (2013–2017) in open-filed lysimeters with a randomized complete blocks design arranged in factorial combination with three replicates. The highest saffron and winter-wheat yields (0.48 and 355.7 g m−2, respectively) obtained from ‘manure-monocropping-60% ETc’ and ‘urea-60% ETc treatments’, respectively, both at the fourth growing season. Results showed that saffron equivalent yield and revenue were 17% higher in intercropping treatments compared to sole saffron. Moreover, the chemical urea fertilizer decreased significantly saffron yield (20%) in comparison to the application of the organic cow manure, while an increase of 17% in wheat grain yield was experienced in urea treatments compared to manure. Under the study conditions, irrigation regime of 40%ETc could be recommended. For saffron quality, application of urea increased significantly safranal, crocin and picrocrocin concentrations as 6.0%, 3.0% and 5.0%, respectively in comparison with the manure treatments. Therefore, for higher quality of saffron, it is recommended to use nitrogen fertilizer along with manure. Besides, land equivalent ratios for economic yields were 1.74, which shows the overall 74% advantage in intercropping in production of economic (saffron and wheat grain) yields, over the four years of study. Therefore, the farmers can use the inter-row spaces of the saffron crop to grow winter wheat simultaneously in order to obtain higher revenue and land productivity, and make clean and sustainable production.

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Notes

  1. The saffron price was for the November of 2020 at the time of saffron harvesting and the wheat price belongs to the year 2021 when the wheat is being harvested. Moreover, wheat and saffron prices were in Iranian Rials and 1US$ = 250000Rials (Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2020) was used to convert the prices from Iranian Rial to US Dollar.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by a research project funded by Grant no. 00-GR-AGR 42 of Shiraz University Research Council, Drought Research Center, the Center of Excellent for On-Farm Water Management, and Iran National Science Foundation (INSF, 950122). We also appreciate Farassan Manufacturing and Industrial Company (Shiraz, Iran) for providing large diameter pipes used in construction of open field lysimeters.

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  1. Water Engineering Department, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Mohammad Rasoul Abbasi & Ali Reza Sepaskhah

  2. Drought Research Center, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Ali Reza Sepaskhah

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  1. Mohammad Rasoul Abbasi
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Abbasi, M.R., Sepaskhah, A.R. Evaluation of Saffron Yield Affected by Intercropping with Winter Wheat, Soil Fertilizers and Irrigation Regimes in a Semi-arid Region. Int. J. Plant Prod. 16, 511–529 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42106-022-00194-4

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