Saffron spice quality in response to integrated nutrient management under lesser Himalayan conditions of Rawalakot Azad Jammu & Kashmir

Abstract

Integrated nutrient management is an environment friendly approach of plant nutrition being used for crop productivity and improvement in soil quality on sustainable basis. A three-year multi-location experiment was conducted to estimate the spice quality of saffron subjected to the integration of organic and inorganic nitrogen sources. At each location, the experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design. The treatments were T₁ = control (without organic/inorganic N source/amendment); T₂ = Full recommended nitrogen (i.e. urea fertilizer @ equivalent to 100 kg N ha⁻¹; UN₁₀₀); T₃ = Poultry manure (PM) @ equivalent to 100 kg total N ha⁻¹ (i.e. PM₁₀₀); T₄ = Farm yard manure (FYM) @ equivalent to 100 kg total N ha⁻¹ (i.e. FYM₁₀₀); T₅ = PM₅₀+FYM₅₀; T₆ = UN₇₅ + PM₂₅; T₇ = UN₅₀ + PM₅₀; T₈ = UN₂₅ + PM₇₅; T₉ = UN₇₅ + FYM₂₅; T₁₀ = UN₅₀ + FYM₅₀; T₁₁ = UN₂₅ + FYM₇₅ and T₁₂ = UN₅₀ + PM₂₅+ FYM₂₅. Among treatments, poultry manure (100%) and urea nitrogen with poultry manure (UN₅₀ + PM₅₀) significantly affected the quality attributes of saffron. On the other hand, among sites, the crocin, picrocrocin and saffranal contents were in order of Khaigala (23.81% crocin, 20.01% picrocrocin and 0.27% saffranal) >Trarkhel (19.04% crocin, 16.99% picrocrocin and 0.25% saffranal) and > Abbaspur (17.80% crocin, 15.45% picrocrocin and 0.23% saffranal). Similarly, among years, the crocin, picrocrocin and saffranal contents were significantly higher in the third year compared to the first and second year. In conclusion, the integration of organic nitrogen sources with inorganic nitrogen has the potential to improve saffron quality.

Keywords:

• Azad Kashmir
• Himalaya
• integrated nutrient management
• saffron
• spice quality

Acknowledgments

The authors thank filed and laboratory research staff of the Department of Soil & Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Poonch Rawalakot.

Disclosure statement

One of the authors (CB) is affiliated with Sweet Potatoes Australia. The company had no role in the design of the experiment, analysis of the results, or in the decision to publish.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Pakistan Agricultural Research Council through Agricultural Linkages Programs via project number NR-162.