The Effect of Environmental Factors on the Vegetative and Flowering Growth of Saffron Plant (Crocus Sativus L) Grown in Two Locations in Rural Damascus

Reem Rustom* (1)(2) , Hassan Obaid(1) and  Khaldoun Taiba(2)(3)

(1). Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.

(2). Administration of Horticulture Research, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Damascus, Syria.

(3). ACSAD, Damascus, Syria.

(*Corresponding author: Eng. Reem Rustom, E-Mail: reem.rustom@damascusuniversity.edu.sy, Mobile: 0945020680)

Received: 11/06/2023                 Accepted: 1/10/2023

Abstract: 

The research was carried out at the General Commission for Agricultural Scientific Research, Rural Damascus Research Center (Sarghaya and Al-Taybeh Research Stations), during the two agricultural seasons 2019 and 2020, with the aim of studying the effect of environmental factors of the sites where saffron plants (Crocus sativus. L) were planted on the vegetative and flowering growth indicators of plants. The results of the experiment showed that the prevailing climatic conditions in the Sarghaya region increased the indicators of vegetative growth (average length and number of leaves, average number of shoots) and flowering (average number of flowers and their wet weight, average length of stigmas and their dry weight) of saffron plants grown in them compared to their counterparts grown in the conditions of Al-Taybeh region—statistical indications for both seasons. The 2020 season was significantly superior in average leaf length, average number of leaves, average number of shoots, average number of flowers, and average wet weight of flowers (29.36 cm, 160.4 leaves, 6.63 growth, 0.6333 flowers, 0.2193 g) over the 2019 season, while the latter outperformed the 2020 season. With statistical significance in the average length of flower stigmas and dry weight of stigmas (3.592 cm, 0.035 g), the superiority of the second season in most of the studied traits is attributed to the increase in the number of corms per unit area resulting from the mother corms planted in the first season.

Keywords: saffron, environmental factors, Al-Taybeh site, Sarghaya site, vegetative growth, flowering growth, Korma

Full paper in Arabic: pdf