M.A. Thesis:

the effct of foliar application of mono potassium phosphate and micronutrients on growth characteristics of saffron

In order to investigate the effect of foliar application of mono-potassium phosphate and micronutrients on growth characteristics of saffron plant, a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications was carried out in Bardaskan, Khorasan Razavi. Experimental factors consisted of foliar application of different concentrations of mono-potassium phosphate (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6%) and micronutrients (0, 0.3 and 0.6%). Results showed that foliar application of mono-potassium phosphate significantly increased number of corms per square meter, leaf length, corm yield, shoot dry weight, number of buds per corm and percentage of corms heavier than 8 g, but it decreased the percentage of corms less than 4 g and average corm weight. The highest number of corms per unit area was obtained at concentration of 0.6% and the highest yield of corms and the number of buds per corm was obtained at a concentration of 0.4% mono-potassium phosphate. Foliar application of mono-potassium phosphate at concentration of 0.2% produced the highest percentage of corms heavier than 8 g. The effect of foliar application of micronutrients was significant on all studied characteristics, except average corm weight and number of buds per corm. Foliar application of different concentrations of micronutrients increased the number of corms per unit area, leaf length, corm yield, shoot dry weight and percentage of corms between 4-8 g compared to non-foliar conditions. Foliar application of micronutrients with a concentration of 0.6%, produced the highest number of corms per unit area, corm yield and the percentage of corms heavier than 8 g. The highest leaf length and percentage of corms heavier than 8 g were observed in foliar application of mono-potassium phosphate with a concentration of 0.4% and micronutrients with a concentration of 0.6%. The highest shoot dry weight was obtained by foliar application of mono-potassium phosphate with concentration of 0.6% and micronutrients with concentration of 0.3%. Foliar application of micronutrients with concentration of 0.6% in the absence of mono-potassium phosphate had the highest percentage of corms between 4-8 g. According to the results, two foliar applications of saffron with concentration of 0.4% mono-potassium phosphate and concentration of 0.6% micronutrients are recommended to produce maximum yield of corm with a high percentage of corms heavier than 8 g.

Keywords: Keywords: Potassium, saffron, phosphorus, foliar application, corm yield