ISHS Acta Horticulturae 826: I International Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Conference on Culinary Herbs
CULTIVATION OF SAFFRON (CROCUS SATIVUS L.) AND EFFECTS OF ORGANIC FERTILIZERS TO THE FLOWER YIELD |
| Authors: | N. Arslan, A.S. Özer, R. Akdemir |
| Abstract:
Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is belonging to Iridaceae family. Genus Crocus has about 80 species in the world and 32 of them exist in the flora of Turkey. 18 species are endemic for Turkey. Some species have sub-species between 2 and 10. Some members of the Crocus species, including saffron, flower at the autumn, while other members flower by the spring. About 30 of Crocus species are cultivated as ornamental plant. Corms of some Corcus species, which are called “çiğdem” or “gözenek” in Anatolia (the ones that flower in autumn), are either collected and eaten raw or cooked as “Çiğdem Pilau” (Arslan, 1984; Baytop, 1963; Davis, 1984-1988; Hosseini et al., 2004). Saffron is one of the oldest cultivated plants that known. The history goes back to 3000-4000 B.C. in the Mesopotamian civilizations. Although the wild species of this plant is unknown, studies in the recent years had showed that it has very similar characteristics with Crocus cartwrightianus. Moreover, it also has similar characteristics with the species of C. thomasii and Crucus section (Caiola et al., 2004; Gümüşsuyu, 2002; Vurdu et al., 2002). Saffron was one of the important cultivated plants in the period of Ottoman Empire and the most of the saffron production was being exported. However, it had lost its importance by the time (Arslan, 1986; Baytop, 1963). In Turkey, the commercial production of saffron is made around Safranbolu but the production area is getting smaller because of the marketing difficulties of the product. The production area is approximately 0,4 hectares. | |
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