بررسی اثر رفتار جبرانی تراكم كاشت، وزن بنه مادري و عمق كاشت بر خصوصيات رويشی و )Crocus sativus L.( عملكرد زعفران.

In order to investigate the effect of compensatory behavior of planting density, corm weight and planting depth on vegetative characteristics and yield of saffron stigma (Crocus sativus L.), a factorial split plot experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in the Khorasan Razavi Agriculture and natural resources Research and education Center (Gonabad Research Station) during the three cropping years 2018-2020. In this study, planting density treatment (four levels of 60, 90, 120 and 150 corms per square meter) was considered as the main plots and factorial of planting depth (two levels of 15±2 and 25±2 cm from the soil surface) and corm weight (two Levels 4± 1 and 8 ± 1 gr) were considered as the subplots. The results showed that density increasing caused a significant increase in yield (p <0.05) and the other studied traits. On the based of these, increasing density from 60 to 150 corms per square meter increased the number of flowers and stigma dry weight by 174 and 192 percent in the first year, 100 and 109 percent in the second year, 128 and 129 percent in the third year, respectively. The results also showed that increasing corm weight from 4 to 8 g increased flower number and stigma dry weight by 133 and 138% in the first year, 14 and 15% in the second year respectively, but decreased by 10 and 10% in the third year. Based on the results of this study, increasing the planting depth from 15 to 25 cm reduced the stigma yield and other traits of saffron. The effect of dual and triple interactions on the studied traits was mainly significant. Overall, the results showed that the use of larger mother corms has a higher priority only in the early years and its importance decreases with increasing farm age. It seems that in a different strategy, more profit can be achieved by planting less corm weight (i.e.lower costs) and its effect compensation via a combination of less depth and especially more density (i.e. higher yield and income). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]