Investigating flower yield and corm behavior of saffron under different dense planting systems in Kermanshah, western Iran

This study was conducted in Kermanshah, Iran (2016-2019), to investigate the effects of dense corm planting on the yield and yield components of saffron plants. The research was designed as a factorial experiment within a completely randomized design, with four repetitions. The experimental factors included harvest times (years) and dense corm planting at three levels: 100, 200, and 300 corms per square meter. The results showed that increasing dense corm planting over three years had a significant effect (P 0.01) on several traits, including the number of flowers, fresh weight of petals, dry weight of stigmas, flowering duration (days), corm diameter, dry corm weight, and the number of daughter corms. The interaction effect of year and the planting density of corms was significant (P 0.01) on all studied traits except for flowering duration. Using a high planting density of 300 corms per square meter over three years resulted in a decrease in the fresh weight of petals (65.6%) and the dry weight of stigmas (78.4%). Thus, a dense planting of 200 corms per square meter is recommended for achieving maximum yield and economic benefit in saffron cultivation under the climatic conditions of Kermanshah over three years.