Study on Yield and Corm Regeneration of Saffron through Different Planting Geometry Patterns

A field experiment was conducted in order to examine the effect of different plant geometries and spacing between the pits on corm regeneration and yield. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications at the Research Farm of Saffron Research Station, SKUAST-Kashmir, Pampore for 3 years viz., 2012-13, 2013-14 2014-15. The treatments consisted of three planting methods viz., 15 corms per pit (P1), 10 corms per pit (P2) and 5 corms per pit (P3) and two spacing from pit to pit viz., 30x20 cms (S1) and 25x10 cms (S2). The statistical data and details from the second and third year of the experiment were evaluated and analyzed. Analysis of variance showed significant variation among all the treatments. The highest number of daughter corms/plot was obtained from the highest density (15 corms/pit) and wider spacing (30x20cms). It was also noticed that highest number of total corms/row weighting >10g, 5-8 g, <5 gram were recorded under the same treatment (P1-15 corms/pit) as 9.00, 7.59 and 49.02 corms, respectively. Further, the total corm weigh /pit was significantly highest (158.55gms) in P1 (15 corms per pit) treatment as compared to other treatments. With regard to the floral traits viz., no. of flower/plant, flower fresh weight (gm), flower dry weight (gm), stigma fresh weight (gm) and stigma dry weight (mg), the treatment P1 (15 corms per pit) and spacing S1 (30x20cms) produced significantly highest mean values for these traits. Significantly highest saffron yield (5.80 kg ha-1) was recorded in the treatment P1 (15 corms per pit), while the lowest yield (3.89kg ha-1) was recorded in treatment P3 (5 corms per pit), similarly the spacing treatment S1 (30x20cms) produced the highest saffron yield (5.09 kg ha-1) as compared to S2 (25x10 cms) treatment (4.58 kg ha-1).