A preliminary study on the effects of pre-planting heating o saffron corms germination speed and number of sprouts in greenhouse conditions

Abstract

Pavlo Lykhovyd*, Olesia Yuziuk, Oleksandr Rudik, Olena Ozhovan, Liudmyla Popova, Natalia Rudik and Valerii Dubrovin

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a prospective niche crop for modern climate smart and resource saving agriculture. Notwithstanding the fact of growing importance of saffron in food and pharmaceutical branches of economy, the crop remains insufficiently studied in terms of its rational cultivation technology. Pre-planting treatment of corms is on the list of unresolved and at the same time very important constituents of saffron cultivation. The study on the effects of pre-planting heating at the temperature +25…27°C during 30 days was caried out in the greenhouse conditions in four replications to understand the reaction of saffron corms on such treatment in the initial period of growth. As a result, it was established that heated corms provided significantly higher number of sprouts at germination (2.25 more sprouts per each planted corm), while the time from planting to first sprouts appearance was longer by 2.50 days (at the confidence interval 95%). Therefore, pre-planting heating is supposed to be an efficient measure for saffron yield increment through the increased number of flowers. Further detailed studies, both greenhouse and in-field, are required to accept or deny this hypothesis.