Regression Analysis for Yield Comparison of Saffron as Affected by Physicochemical Properties of the Soil, Case Study in

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FULL-LENGTH RESEARCH ARTICLE

Regression Analysis for Yield Comparison of Saffron as Affected by Physicochemical Properties of the Soil, Case Study in Northeast of Iran Mahboobeh Rahmani Khalili1 • Mohammad Esmaeil Asadi2 Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand1 • Ebrahim Pazira3



Received: 4 July 2019 / Accepted: 27 January 2020 Ó NAAS (National Academy of Agricultural Sciences) 2020

Abstract The present research was conducted during 2015–2017 to compare the yield of saffron as affected by soil characteristics in Vamenan village, Golestan Province, Iran, which is regarded as a new planting zone of this plant compared to Ghayen region, South Khorasan Province, Iran. Sampling was done from 30 saffron farms with three replications, i.e., 90 profiles were sampled from 3 to 5 years old farms in each of the studied areas. Jarque–Bera and White tests and Durbin–Watson statistics were utilized to estimate the impact rate of soil properties on saffron yield. The results indicated that the effects of soil electrical conductivity on yield in Ghayen were negative and significant, whereas amounts of clay and silt significantly and positively affected the yield with corresponding values of - 0.04, 0.19 and 0.1, respectively. However, the effect of organic matter and available potassium level on saffron yield in Vamenan was positive and significant, and their values were 1.45 and 0.19, respectively. The average saffron yield in Vamenan was 5.3 kg ha-1 higher than that of Ghayen. Therefore, it can be stated that Vamenan may be considered as a suitable location for saffron cultivation. Keywords Jarque–Bera test  White test  Saffron yield  Soil properties  Regression analysis

Introduction Saffron (Crocus Sativus L.) is a valuable plant which according to some researchers is originated from Iran [31] and claims an important place in Iran’s industrial and export products, as 90% of the world’s saffron production belongs to this country [27]. Saffron is currently cultivated in Iran, Morocco, Spain, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Greece

& Mohammad Esmaeil Asadi [email protected] 1

Department of Soil Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2

Water Engineering and Management, School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

3

Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

[28, 38]. Iran, with more than 98% of the global production and highest crop cultivation level, is considered as the world’s greatest saffron produce [27]. Due to the special climatic conditions of Iran (such as temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, etc.), the produced saffron is of the highest quality. The cultivation of saffron in Khorasan Province of Iran is performed under an area of about 50,000 acres with an annual production of about 160 t [8, 28], accounting for 98.3% of the total saffron area under cultivation in Iran [29]. At present, the production efficiency of saffron farms in Iran is very low and averages about 5 kg per