Effect of mother corm (Crocus sativus L. Iridaceae) on the productivity of daughter saffron corm in the Northern Black Sea region of Ukraine

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the effect of mother corm size on the productivity and yield structure of daughter corms of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) under a three-year cultivation system in the Southern Steppe zone of Ukraine (Mykolaiv region). A field experiment was established in August 2019 using three size fractions of corms: large (25.46 ± 1.82 mm), medium (18.5 ± 0.96 mm), and small (7.40 ± 0.21 mm), and harvesting with morphometric analysis was conducted in June 2022. The results showed that the size of the initial planting material had a decisive influence on productivity. However, yield structure differed significantly among treatments: the proportion of large, potentially flowering daughter corms was highest with small mother corms (49.1% by mass) and lowest with large mother corms (18.3%). Thus, large planting material is recommended to maximize total corm yield, whereas the inclusion of small mother corms is advisable when the goal is to obtain a higher proportion of flowering corms, which is important for both saffron planting material producers and flower-oriented farms.