Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a valuable plant which is mainly grown in Iran, India and Greece. The life cycle of this plant is short and more period of plant growth is in autumn and winter which, it is not possible for other plants to growth. Therefore it does not occupy the land during the whole year, and hence possibility of Saffron intercropping with other crops may economically be feasible. To evaluate the potential of intercropping of Saffron with other crops, this experiment was conducted in the research field of Faculty Agricultural, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in 2006-2008. This study arranged as a Randomized Complete Blocks Design (RCBD) with three replications. Treatments were different combinations of Saffron with three groups of crops including cereals: Spring and Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum), pulses: Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and Lentil (Lens culinaris), and medicinal plants: Ajowan (Carum copticum), Black Seeds (Nigella sativa), Flixweld (Discurinia sophia), Green Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) and Psylium (Plantago ovata) in a row replacement series arrangement. A pure stand of Saffron was also included in the treatments for comparison purposes. Relative advantage of Saffron intercropping with other crops in terms of Relative Value Total (RVT) was only shown in Saffron intercropping with Ajowan and Black Seeds in combined analyze. These values were 2.16 and 1.85 for intercrop of Saffron with Ajowan and Black Seeds, respectively.
However, the highest yield of Saffron was obtained in pure stand (1.06 kg/ha) and the lowest yield was in mixture with Ajowan (0.12 kg/ha). There was no difference between intercrop treatments in terms of Saffron yield, except between saffron intercropping with Lentil and its intercropping with Ajowan. There was no difference between intercrop treatments in terms of number of corms per plant, number of buds per corm and also fresh and dry weight of corm. Yield of Saffron was reduced with increasing irrigation frequency (water needed for companion crops) (p<0.05), but there was a positive relationship between RVT and irrigation frequency (p<0.01). |
