Author(s):

Monika Menia, Sadaf Iqbal, Zahida R, Tahir S, Kanth RH, Saad AA and Aashq Hussian

Abstract: Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. Saffron is a perennial herbaceous plant attaining a height of 25 to 40 cm. The saffron known the world over as the ‘Golden Condiment’ because of its extreme high cash value and low volume. Saffron is widely used in food preparations especially Kashmiri ‘Kehwa’, fabric dying, medicinal drug, perfume and cosmetic industries. Saffron have medium feed value for ruminants and its value is less than alfalfa and more than cereal straw (Valizadeh, 1988). Saffron essentially contains three active ingredients such as crocin, picrocrocin and safranal which determines the intensity of colour, power of the flavour and strength of the aroma respectively. J&K is only state in the country which has the capability of producing this golden spice of the world. The total area recorded under saffron production was 5.707 thousand hectares with an annual production of 15.95 tonne and productivity of 2.8 kg/ha in 1997 which has reduced to 3.674 thousand hectares with an annual production of 9.6 tonne and having 2.61 kg/ha of productivity. The major constraints that limit its production and productivity is poor management of saffron cultivation, as it involves inadequate plant population, incidence of corm rot disease, nutrient depletion, lack of irrigation facilities, inadequate post-harvest handling, processing and marketing as well as adulteration in quality saffron. Turhan et. al. (2007) stated that the effect of different growing medias namely field soil+ sand, field soil+ sand+ cow manure, field soil+ sand+ manure applied as double layer above and bottom of corm bed and field soil+ sand+ manure+ nitfojips-K on most of the characters were significant but cow manure mixtures especially with double layers had a positive effect on the flower and stigma weight. Cavusoglu et. al. (2009) reported that the big size corm dimension (10-24 mm) has a great impact than small size corm dimension (25-40 mm) on fresh or dry saffron yield and to extend harvest period under greenhouse condition. Yau and Nimah (2004) found that the spacing had a large effect on flower production on the basis of per unit area and the ratio of actual flower production for low to medium to high density was 1:2:4. Unal and Cavusoglu (2005) found that the highest values of fresh and dry saffron weight were obtained from the application of urea fertilizer while the lowest values of fresh and dry saffron weight were obtained from ammonium sulphate fertilizer. Nehvi et al. (2010) revealed that the application of FYM at 350 kg/ha in combination with N: P: K at 30:20:15 kg/ ha recorded maximum saffron yield averaged over 3 years (4.350 kg ha-1) showing an increase of above 91% over the control plots. Wani (2004) suggested that the inoculation with nematodes and pathogenic fungus either separately or simultaneously significantly affected the disease development and the saffron yield. It is shown that the growing medium was one of the important factors for saffron flower production. In conclusion, the good management practices are recommended to enhance the productivity of saffron.

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