Hormone and microorganism treatments in the cultivation of saffron (Crocus Sativus L.) plants

Abstract

The difficult cultivation of the saffron plant (Crocus Sativus L.) make the spice of the same name made from its dried stigmas very valuable. It is estimated that some 75,000 blossoms or 225,000 hand-picked stigmas are required to make a single pound of saffron, which explains why it is the world's most expensive spice. The aim of this study was to identify ways of increasing the fertility and production of saffron. For this purpose, the treatment of saffron bulbs with a synthetic growth hormone - a mixture of Polystimulins A6 and K - and two different microorganism based materials - biohumus or vermicompost and Effective Microorganisms™ (EM) - in four different ways (hormone alone, biohumus alone, EM alone and EM+biohumus) was investigated to determine whether these treatments have any statistically meaningful effects on corms and stigmas. It has been shown that EM + biohumus was the most effective choice for improved saffron cultivation. © 2008 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International.