Saffron corm behavior in a new and emerging area of production

Saffron is mainly produced in southern parts of Khorasan in Iran based on the proper temperature profile available for production that is warm summer and mild fall. The production used to come from Torbate heydariah to Birjand, further south of the province. Due to climate change this trend seems to be reversing and the area of production is extending from Torbate heydariah northward. To find out the credibility of this assumption an experiment was conducted for two growing seasons (2013-14 and 2014-15) in Shirvan further north of the province (latitude 37°25RSQUO and longitude of 57°49'). For this purpose corm behavior was evaluated in the experiment arranged with a wide range of corm density (50, 100 and 150 corms m^-2) and different amounts of chemical and organic manure (no fertilizer, 100 kg ha^-1 urea + 100 kg ha^-1 triple super phosphate + 50 kg ha^-1 potassium sulfate consumption (Chemical1), 200 kg ha^-1 urea + 200 kg ha^-1 triple super phosphate + 100 kg ha^-1 potassium sulfate consumption (Chemical2), 300 kg ha^-1 urea + 300 kg ha^-1 triple super phosphate + 200 kg ha^-1 potassium sulfate consumption (Chemical3), cow manure consumption based on 100 kg ha^-1 urea (3066 kg ha^-1), based on 200 kg ha^-1 urea (6132 kg ha^-1) and based on 300 kg ha^-1 urea (9198 kg ha^-1)). The experimental layout was split plot with 3 replications. Result showed that corm size followed almost the same trend as saffron yield in response to different treatments. In this case the highest amount of corms ha^-1 was observed with animal manure and 150 corms m^-2. It was apparent that saffron corms behave almost the same in the north as those in the southern area and therefore extension of saffron to the north is unavoidable and therefore in terms of environmental conditions seems to be feasible.