ArticlePDF Available

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.): gold of the spices—a comprehensive review

May 2021
Horticulture, Environment and Biotechnology 62(3)

May 2021
62(3)

DOI:10.1007/s13580-021-00349-8

Authors:

Deepak Kothari

CSIR - Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology

Rakesh Kumar

CSIR - Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a monocotyledonous herbaceous triploid plant that produces the most expensive spice in the world. Its main constituents, crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal, are responsible for color, taste, and aroma, respectively. The saffron plant produces a red-colored spice that is important in pharmaceutics, cosmetics, perfumery, and textile dye-producing industries. Iran produces almost 90% of the total world production. The saffron market is expected to grow by 12.09% in the forecast period 2020 to 2027. This paper reviews the current knowledge about the taxonomy, geographical distribution, reproductive biology, chemical composition, therapeutic and traditional uses, and agro-technology of the world’s most expensive spice crop, saffron.

Life cycle of saffron crop in the western Himalaya

…

Figures - uploaded by Deepak Kothari

Content may be subject to copyright.

Content uploaded by Deepak Kothari

Content may be subject to copyright.

Vol.:(0123456789)

1 3

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-021-00349-8

REVIEW ARTICLE

Saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.): gold ofthespices—a comprehensive review

DeepakKothari1,2· RajeshThakur2· RakeshKumar1,2

Received: 13 August 2020 / Revised: 15 March 2021 / Accepted: 16 March 2021

Abstract

Saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) is a monocotyledonous herbaceous triploid plant that produces the most expensive spice in the

world. Its main constituents, crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal, are responsible for color, taste, and aroma, respectively. The

saﬀron plant produces a red-colored spice that is important in pharmaceutics, cosmetics, perfumery, and textile dye-producing

industries. Iran produces almost 90% of the total world production. The saﬀron market is expected to grow by 12.09% in

the forecast period 2020 to 2027. This paper reviews the current knowledge about the taxonomy, geographical distribution,

reproductive biology, chemical composition, therapeutic and traditional uses, and agro-technology of the world’s most

expensive spice crop, saﬀron.

Keywords Saﬀron· Uses· Marketing· Crocin· Picrocrocin· Safranal· Agrotechnology

1 Introduction

Saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most expensive

spices and is usually grown as a perennial crop. The crim-

son-colored stigmas of saﬀron are used as a spice. Saﬀron

is cultivated in Iran, Spain, India, Italy, Afghanistan, Azer-

baijan, UAE, Turkey, France, Egypt, Switzerland, Israel,

Greece, China, Japan, Iraq, and recently in Australia (Tas-

mania) and is used as a fragrance, a dye, a spice, and for

medicinal purposes. Global production of dried saﬀron is

projected to be approximately 418 Megagrams (Mg) per

year (Cardone etal. 2020). Iran generates more than 90%

of the overall world output of saﬀron, more than 92% of

which is produced in Khorasan Province. In India, saﬀron

is grown mainly in Jammu and Kashmir. Few cases of saf-

fron cultivation have recently been recorded in Himachal

Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Saﬀron is propagated manually

through daughter corms that are produced vegetatively by

the mother corm. Three main compounds are responsible for

the color, taste, and aroma of saﬀron: crocin is responsible

for the strong coloring capacity, picrocrocin gives the bitter

ﬂavor, and safranal gives the characteristic odor and aroma

(Cagliani etal. 2015). Because it is so expensive, saﬀron is

largely adulterated by additives such as corn stigmas and

saﬄower stamens, which complicate its trade (Babaei etal.

2014). Saﬀron from Iran is chieﬂy imported by India and

Spain. India imports saﬀron from the leading producers,

i.e., Iran, Spain, and China. In 2018, India imported $18.3

million in U.S. currency of saﬀron, becoming the world’s

fourth-largest importer (Anonymous 2019).

In the last 30–40 years, saﬀron production has declined

except in Iran where its production has increased (Khan etal.

2011). Reviews have been published on diﬀerent aspects of

saﬀron, including agro-technology (Kumar etal. 2009), can-

cer chemoprevention (Bhandari 2015), antioxidant activity

(Rahaiee etal. 2015), toxicological eﬀects of its constituents

(Badie Bostan etal. 2017), chemistry and uses (Bathaie etal.

2014), petals as a new pharmacological target (Hosseini

etal. 2018), and medicinal properties (Razak etal. 2017).

In this paper, we review studies on saﬀron conducted after

the year 2008 with a focus on diﬀerent aspects of saﬀron

production technologies, post-harvest management, adul-

teration, uses, and chemistry.

Communicated by Sanghyun Lee.

* Rakesh Kumar

rakeshkumar@ihbt.res.in

1 Academy ofScientiﬁc andInnovative Research (AcSIR),

Ghaziabad, UttarPradesh, India

2 Agrotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute ofHimalayan

Bioresource Technology, (Council ofScientiﬁc andIndustrial

Research), Post-Box No. 6, Palampur, HP176061, India

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

2 Biology ofsaron

2.1 Taxonomy

Saﬀron is a monocotyledonous species (Family Iridaceae)

that originated from southern Europe and south‐west Asia.

It is widely distributed due to the high adaptability that has

permitted its long-term cultivation (Leone etal. 2018). Saf-

fron is taxonomically classiﬁed as:

Domain—Eukarya

Kingdom—Plantae

Subkingdom—Tracheobionta

Superdivision—Spermatophyta

Division—Magnoliophyta

Class—Liliopsida

Subclass—Liliidae

Order—Liliales

Family—Iridaceae

Genus—Crocus

Species—sativus (US Department of Agriculture 2020)

The Crocus genus includes approximately 80 species

worldwide. Saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.), among these spe-

cies, is cultivated for its stigmas, which are used as a high-

value spice. At present, about 8 taxa are recognized in Iran

(Sharafzadeh 2011).

3 Habitat

Saﬀron grows from sea level altitude to nearly 2000 m,

though it is more adapted to hills, mountain valleys, and

plateaus ranging from 600 to 1700 m. The beneﬁt of this

plant is that it may be cultivated in areas where droughts

during the summer are common (Salwee and Nehvi 2013).

4 Distribution

Saﬀron originated from Greece, Asia Minor, and Per-

sia, and is currently produced in many countries includ-

ing Iran, Algeria, Italy, India, France, Russia, Morocco,

Persia, Turkey, and Spain. Its cultivation in the world

extends through 0°–90° E, longitude (Spain–Kashmir),

and 30°–45° N latitude (Persia–England) (Khan etal.

2011). In India, saﬀron is grown in the districts of Pul-

wama, Baramulla, Badgam, Anantnag, and Kishtwar in

the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (Dhar and Mir

1997). Major saﬀron-growing countries around the world

are depicted in Table1.

5 Morphology

The crocus plant bears violet-colored ﬂowers, the stigmas

of which are used as a spice (Fig.1). The stigma of saf-

fron is dark red to reddish-brown in color. The style is

yellowish brown to yellowish orange. Its odor is strong,

characteristic, and aromatic. Its taste is characteristic and

bitter. The stigmas are 25 mm in length and triﬁd shaped.

The styles are about 10 mm long and are cylindrical in

shape (Srivastava etal. 2010). The ﬂowers are hysteran-

thous and ﬂowering takes place in the month of October.

Mother corms are replaced by daughter corms after ﬂower-

ing (Dhar and Mir 1997).

Table 1 Major saﬀron growing

areas around the world Location Latitude Longitude Altitude (amsl) References

Taliouine, Morocco 30° 26′ N 8° 25′ W 1200–1630 m Lage etal. (2009)

Srinagar, J&K, India 33° 59′ N 74° 46′ E 1674.88 m Kumar and Sharma (2017)

Pampore, J&K, India 34° 01′ N 74° 56′ E 1574 m Yasmin and Nehvi (2018)

Mashhad, Iran 36° 15′ N 59° 28′ E 985 m Bayat etal. (2016)

Badjgah, Iran 29° 56′ N 52° 02′ E 1810 m Dastranj and Sepaskhah (2019)

Shiraz, Iran 29° 56′ N 52° 2′ E 1810 m Yarami and Sepaskhah (2015)

and Mirsaﬁ etal. (2016)

Shahr-e-Rey, Iran 42° 25′ N 50° 25′ E 304.8 m Pazoki etal. (2013)

Earnscleugh, New Zealand 45° 12′ S 169° 18′ E – Douglas etal. (2014)

Kocaeli, Turkey 40° 42′ N 30° 01′ E 77.4 m Cavusoglu (2010

Enna, South Italy 37° 37′ N 14° 14′ E 510 m Gresta etal. (2016)

Khost, Afghanistan 33° 59′ N 69° 19′ E 1180 m Wali etal. (2016)

Albacete, Spain 38° 57′ N 1° 52′ W 700 m De Juan etal. (2009)

La Mancha, Spain 39° 10′ N 02° 54′ W 610 m Kumar etal. (2009)

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

6 Reproductive biology

Saﬀron is a triploid species (2n = 24, x = 8 chromosomes).

Sexual reproduction is absent and the plant only divides

through vegetative propagation by corms. This happens

because chromosome pairing during meiosis in triploids

is uneven, which results in an inability to develop gam-

etes (Caiola 2004). Hence it does not produce viable seeds

(Gresta etal. 2008). Vegetative reproduction continues in

saﬀron until the ground space is full with daughter corms,

which reduces the ﬂower production gradually (Alonso

etal. 2012). Only 4–5 daughter corms are produced per

year by traditional methods. Low multiplication rates and

fungal invasion of corms are therefore obstacles to the

availability of adequate quality planting material (Mushtaq

etal. 2014).

7 Chemical composition

The speciﬁc aroma, taste, and color of a product is due to the

prescence of secondary metabolites, which are derived from

primary metabolites (Parizad etal. 2019). Crocin, safranal,

and picrocrocin (Fig.2) are the main bioactive ingredients

of saﬀron responsible for the color, aroma, and bitterness

of the spice, respectively (Zhang etal. 2019). The chemical

characteristics of saﬀron depend on the diﬀerent geoclimatic

conditions and processing techniques used by the growers.

The chemistry of saﬀron is complex; this spice has primary

metabolites, which are ubiquitous in nature, such as carbohy-

drates, minerals, fats, vitamins, amino acids, and proteins. A

large number of secondary metabolites, which are products

of metabolism that are not critical for survival but impor-

tant for the development or reproduction of the organism,

are also present in saﬀron, such as carotenoids, monoterpe-

nes, and ﬂavonoids, including mainly anthocyanins (Maggi

etal. 2020). Over 150 constituents that contain hydrophilic

and lipophilic carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, mucilage,

starch, gums, vitamins, many pigments such as crocin, α and

Fig. 1 Saﬀron ﬂowers

Fig. 2 Chemical structure of

marker compounds of saﬀron

viz., a crocin, b safranal and, c

picrocrocin

OH O

OCH

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

β carotenes, alkaloids, xanthone carotenoid, mangicrocin,

saponins, safranal, and picrocrocin have been reported in the

stigma of saﬀron by chemical evaluation (Samarghandian

and Borji 2014).

The major volatile responsible for the aroma of saﬀron

is 2,6,6-trimethyl-1,3-cyclohexadiene-1-carboxaldehyde,

commonly known as safranal, which is obtained from

4-(b-D-glucopyranosyloxy)-2,6,6-trimethyl-1-cyclohex-

ene-1-carboxaldehyde, commonly called picrocrocin, and

4-hydroxy-2,6,6-trimethyl-1-cyclohexen1-carboxaldehyde,

also known as HTCC, during the drying process (Maggi

etal. 2010). The actual taste of saﬀron is derived primarily

from picrocrocin, which is the second most abundant compo-

nent (by weight) after crocin, accounting for approximately

1% to 13% of saﬀron’s dry matter (Melnyk etal. 2010). The

color of saﬀron is due to the prescence of 8,8-diapocaro-

tene-8,8-dioic acid, commonly known as crocin. α-crocin or

crocin 1, which is trans-crocetin di-(b-D-gentiobiosyl) ester,

is the most abundant crocin with golden–yellow–orange

color blends that can be isolated in pure form and directly

crystallized at a melting point of 186 °C. α-crocin also may

comprise more than 10% of dry saﬀron’s mass (Shahi etal.

2016). The major saﬀron compounds are discussed in the

following sections.

7.1 Crocetin

Crocetin is an unusual lipophilic carotenoid that is composed

of multi-unsaturated oleﬁn acid conjugates. The molecular

formula of crocetin is C20H24O4. It has a melting point of 285

°C (Samarghandian and Borji 2014). Crocetin also has docu-

mented eﬀects that promote health, such as cardiovascular

improvement (Wang etal. 2014), and anti-cancer (Bhandari

2015) and anti-depressant activity (Ohba etal. 2016).

7.2 Crocin

Crocin is the vital saﬀron pigment that makes approximately

80% of the total chemical constituents; it is a crocetin diester

and is soluble in water. Crocin is responsible for the dazzling

golden–yellow–red shade of the spice (Shahi etal. 2016).

The molecular formula of crocin is C44H64O24. Among the

carotenoids, the water-soluble crocins make up between 6

to 16% of the total dry matter of saﬀron depending on the

selection of the cultivar, environmental circumstances, and

processing technique (Gregory etal. 2005). Crocin 1, also

known as α-crocin, a digentiobioside, is the most abundant

crocin in saﬀron with high solubility (Melnyk etal. 2010).

Crocin, usually dark-red in color, dissolves rapidly in water

to give it a reddish-orange tint, hence making it useful as

a natural food colorant. Crocin is also known for its anti-

oxidant activity, by traping free radicals, protecting cells

and tissues from oxidation (Papandreou etal. 2006). Crocin

remains stable under extreme conditions unlike safranal,

which is unstable (Shahi etal. 2016). The λmax for crocin is

440 nm (Kabiri etal. 2017).

7.3 Picrocrocin

The speciﬁc ﬂavor of saﬀron is mainly from picrocrocin,

which is present in a slightly smaller amount than crocin

concerning weight. It makes up about 1 to 13% of saﬀron’s

dry matter (Alonso etal. 2001). The molecular formula of

picrocrocin is C16H26O7. Upon natural de-glycosylation, pic-

rocrocin yields safranal, another vital chemical constituent,

that is chieﬂy responsible for the odor of saﬀron. Picrocrocin

is a precursor of safranal and a monoterpene glycoside. It

is responsible for the astringent ﬂavor of saﬀron (Pitsikas

2016; Shahi etal. 2016). The λmax for picrocrocin is 254 nm

(Kabiri etal. 2017).

7.4 Safranal

Safranal is the main constituent of the essential oil of saf-

fron. It is responsible for the aroma of saﬀron. The molecular

formula of safranal is C10H14O. It is a monoterpene alde-

hyde and aglycon of picrocrocin. It is very interesting to

note that fresh saﬀron stigmas do not contain safranal. It is

formed by the action of β-glucosidase on picrocrocin during

dehydration and storage after harvest (Maggi etal. 2010;

Shahi etal. 2016). Safranal may make up 70% of the total

volatile fraction in some samples. The λmax for safranal is at

330 nm (Kabiri etal. 2017). Spectrophotometry and ther-

mal desorption-gas chromatography are used to measure the

value and content of safranal, respectively. Years ago, the

safranal content was considered as an index to determine

saﬀron quality; however, this process is no longer acceptable

(Aytekin and Acikgoz 2008). Safranal comprises roughly

30 to 70% of saﬀron’s essential oil and 0.001 to 0.006%

of its dry matter (Carmona etal. 2006; Maggi etal. 2010).

Apart from its traditional use as a spice due to its aroma and

ﬂavor, saﬀron is known to have a high antioxidant potential

(Assimopoulou etal. 2005) as well as cytotoxicity towards

cancer cells invitro (Escribano etal. 1996).

8 Major uses ofsaron

8.1 Therapeutic properties

Crocin, the most abundant active ingredient of saﬀron, has

been reported to show promising therapeutic eﬀects on the

expression of genes and apoptosis in cancer cells. Milajerdi

etal. (2016) reported that crocetin showed inhibition eﬀects

on cancer cell development as it may reduce the formation

of proteins, DNA, and RNA in neoplastic cells. They also

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

reported the antitumor action of safranal with low toxicity

on normal cells. Nowadays many people are shifting towards

plant-based medicines to avoid the harmful eﬀects of chem-

ical-based drugs. Pitsikas etal. (2008) reported the curative

eﬀect of crocins in treating anxiety in animals. The devel-

opment of tumors and the enlargement of cancer cells in

various investigational systems viz. in vivo and invitro are

checked by saﬀron extracts. Aung etal. (2007) reported the

restriction of the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells by

crocin (a major constituent of saﬀron) present in the extract

of saﬀron. The antitumor properties of saﬀron extracts are

related to their inﬂuence on the formation of DNA and RNA,

and their free radical scavenging activities. Invitro studies

showed that the stigma extracts of saﬀron hinder the growth

of tumor cells in humans (Shahi etal. 2016). Akhondzadeh

etal. (2010) reported the eﬀectiveness of saﬀron extract in

treating Alzheimer’s disease; hence, the active compounds

of saﬀron extracts may be useful in improving learning capa-

bility and memory (Table2).

8.2 Traditional use ofsaﬀron

Traditionally, saﬀron has been used in herbal products, in

ayurvedic drugs, and for in-home treatment of certain dis-

orders. It is used as an aphrodisiac, stimulant, anti-poison,

livotonic, lactogogue, nervine tonic, cardiac tonic, carmin-

ative, immune stimulator, diaphoretic, diuretic, sedative,

emmenagogue, relaxant, febrifuge, anti-stress, and anti-

anxiety remedy. Therefore, it can be used for a variety of

diseases and conditions like general debility, alcoholism,

inﬂammation, diabetes, and children’s disorders of unknown

etiology, insect bites and stings, and edema. Saﬀron has

also shown beneﬁcial eﬀects against skin diseases, measles,

smallpox, scarlet fever, respiratory issues, and gastrointes-

tinal disorders (Mousavi and Bathaie 2011). Saﬀron and its

metabolites show a signiﬁcant anticancer eﬀect against the

breast, lung, pancreatic, and leukemic cancer cells in diﬀer-

ent invivo and invitro models (Samarghandian etal. 2013)

(Table3).

8.3 General uses ofsaﬀron

It is believed that saﬀron was ﬁrst used as a spice and food

colorant 3000 to 4000 years ago (Mousavi and Bathaie

2011). Carotenoids of saﬀron are not extracted from the

raw material to be added to the food but several dishes, like

pulav rice in India, are prepared by adding whole stigmas or

powdered stigmas and the water-soluble crocins make the

dish crimson red in color. Since ancient times, saﬀron and

its preparations have been used as a pigment. The earliest

Table 2 Therapeutic properties of saﬀron

Constituent Eﬀects References

Crocetin Inhibitory eﬀect on the cancer cells growth that may be due to reduced synthesis of DNA, RNA and

protein in neoplastic cells

Milajerdi etal. (2016)

Crocin Cancer therapeutic agent

Treatment of animal’s anxiety

Chen etal. (2008)

Pitsikas etal. (2008)

Anti-inﬂamatory, antileukaemic, hepatoprotective properties and improves memory and learning skills Cardone etal. (2020)

Safranal Used for the treatment of diseases such as cardiovascular and neurological disorders and prevent the

development of tumor cells

Chen etal. (2008)

Table 3 Traditional uses of saﬀron as a pharmaceutical ingredient

Activity against Eﬀect References

Breast and lung cancer Crocin and crocetin have signiﬁcant anticancer activity in breast, lung, pancreatic

and leukemic cells

Samarghandian etal. (2013)

Cervical cancer Synthesis of cellular nucleic acid was inhibited by the saﬀron extract in HeLa cells Abdullaev and Frenkel (1992)

Gastrointestinal disorders Enlarged liver, splenic disorders, vomiting and dyspepsia, prolapse of anus Mousavi and Bathaie (2011)

Colorectal cancer Crocin signiﬁcantly inhibits the growth of colorectal cancer cells while not aﬀecting

normal cells

Aung etal. (2007)

Infection disease Antibacterial, antiseptic, anti-fungal, measles, smallpox, scarlet fever Hosseinzadeh etal. (2012)

Respiratory disorders Asthma, cough, sore throat and cold Hosseinzadeh etal. (2012)

Skin disease Used against acne, skin diseases and wounds

It also can give brightness to the body

Mousavi and Bathaie (2011)

Tumor Extracts of saﬀron stigma (crocin, picrocrocin and saﬀranal) inhibit cell growth of

human tumor cells invitro

Bhandari (2015)

Enhance learning capacity Active constituents of saﬀron improves learning ability and memory potentials Akhondzadeh etal. (2010)

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

known example is the usage of pigment from the dried

stigma in cave paintings portraying animals (Humphries

1996) (Table4).

Saﬀron is used as a key ingredient to color a variety of

Indian dishes such as kheer, biryani, Kashmiri pulao, vari-

ous sweet dishes, etc. ‘Kehwa’, a traditional drink served in

Kashmir, is incomplete without saﬀron. Religions such as

Hinduism use saﬀron for various rituals and also use it to

mark their heads. Saﬀron is also considered auspicious in

Buddhism. It is used in traditional and modern medicines

as an antiseptic, antidepressant, antispasmodic, anticancer,

and carminative and is also used as an herbal medicine for

curing respiratory infections such as coughs, common colds,

scarlet fever, and asthma. It has many other uses in industries

such as cosmetics, perfumery, and as textile dyes (Menia

etal. 2018).

9 Agro‑technology

9.1 Geographic distribution

Saﬀron has been grown in diﬀerent geographic locations

around the world at diﬀerent altitudes (Kumar etal. 2009).

Crocus spp. is distributed between 10° W–80° E longitude

and 30°–50° N latitude (Yildirim etal. 2017). According

to Vavilov, saﬀron originated in the Middle East (Jan etal.

2014), although others believe that saﬀron originated in

Mediterranean countries. The ideal altitude for saﬀron cul-

tivation ranges from 200 to 2000 m above mean sea level

(amsl). It is more adapted to hills, plateaus, and mountains

between the altitudes of 600–1700 m amsl. In Italy, it is

grown at an altitude of 650–1100 m amsl. In Morocco, it

is cultivated at an altitude between 1200 and 1400 m amsl

(Salwee and Nehvi 2013). In India, Crocus spp. are grown

well in a temperate climate with sunny days and grow best at

an altitude of 2140 m amsl (Menia etal. 2018). This crop can

be cultivated in temperate, semi-arid, and arid areas in the

range of 1500–2800 m above sea level. Mild winters, warm

summers, and rainy autumns are suitable climatic conditions

for high saﬀron yields (Rahimi etal. 2017).

9.2 Climatic requirement

Saﬀron plants favor a temperate and dry climate with sunny

days. Flower production is highest in October and Novem-

ber with a mean temperature of 15–20 °C days and 6–8 °C

nights. Early autumn rains boost ﬂower production and

spring rains are favorable for corm multiplication (Menia

etal. 2018). It requires warm summers having little or no

precipitation and cool to cold winters, with rainfall during

spring. It can tolerate infrequent snow in the winter sea-

son and can withstand freezing (− 10 °C) (Dar etal. 2017).

Molina etal. (2010) reported that the inﬂuence of tempera-

ture was slight, with a modest decrease in the number of

sprouts per corm as the temperature rose during the ﬂower-

ing season.

The temperature during ﬂower emergence signiﬁcantly

aﬀects the size of the ﬂower. The optimum temperature

(around 17 °C or slightly higher, but below 20 °C) needed for

ﬂowering is much lower than that for sprouting. Koocheki

etal. (2010) found that maximum vegetative growth was

obtained at a temperature of 27 °C and optimum ﬂower-

ing occurred at a temperature of 17 °C. Yasmin and Nehvi

(2018) reported that an average air temperature of 27.5 °C

with total precipitation of 418.90 mm ha−1 is favorable for

shoot and root development of the plant. When the aver-

age maximum air temperature drops below 20 °C, anthesis

is favored under temperate conditions of Kashmir (India).

During the vegetative phase, the plant requires 1100 chill-

ing hours, which are essential for vernalization. In Kashmir

(India) the crop receives a maximum average temperature

of 11.4 °C, minimum average temperature of − 0.33 °C,

and precipitation of 474 mm during the vegetative phase.

At the early stages of growth, a temperature range of 23 °C

to 25 °C is suitable for vegetative growth, while a tempera-

ture less than 16 °C is suitable for producing more daughter

corms (Zahmati etal. 2018). In Greece, saﬀron corms grow

Table 4 Common uses of

saﬀron Uses Part used References

Food colorant Whole stigma Mousavi and Bathaie (2011)

Painting Dried stigma of the saﬀron Humphries (1998)

Coloring textiles Saﬀron ﬂowers Raja etal. (2012)

Histopathological staining Saﬀron Bathaie etal. 2014

Polychrome and richrome stains Stigma Levine etal. (1988) and

Fornasier etal. (1996)

Fluorochrome Saﬀron Trigoso and Stockert (1995)

In Hindu rituals stigma Menia etal. (2018)

Herbal medicine Dried stigma Menia etal. (2018)

Cosmetics Whole ﬂower, dried stigma Menia etal. (2018)

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

in March and April, and ﬂowers in September; and water

stress should be avoided during these time intervals (Gol-

mohammadi 2014).

In India, the dry temperate region of Himachal Pradesh is

ideal for its cultivation as its temperature ranges between 12

and 18 °C during the day and between 4 and 5 °C at night in

September and October. According to Kumar etal. (2009),

Palampur in Himachal Pradesh is an ideal place for saﬀron

cultivation as the average air temperature remains between

19 and 23 °C in September and October and 8 and 13 °C

(average of 30 years) during November and December.

9.3 Soil requirement

Saﬀron prefers friable, well-watered, loose, and well-drained

clay-calcareous soils with high organic content. It requires

20–30 Mg ha−1 of farmyard manure (FYM) to boost the soil

organic content (Golmohammadi 2014). Menia etal. (2018)

reported that saﬀron grows on a broad range of soil types but

develops nicely in well-drained, loose clay calcareous soils

having a loose consistency that allow for easy root penetra-

tion. The best soils for saﬀron production are sandy or loamy

textured soils. Dar etal. (2017) observed that saﬀron thrives

well in saline soil while calcium carbonate deﬁciency could

be a restrictive factor. Nehvi (2010) suggested that a soil pH

ranging from 6.3 to 8.3 with a mean value of 7.5 and electri-

cal conductivity ranging from 0.09 to 0.30 dS m−1 with a

mean value of 0.17 dS m−1 are favorable for saﬀron growth.

9.4 Land preparation

Good land preparation is required for saﬀron cultivation.

Land should be ploughed 3 to 5 times during May, June,

and July to create a friable and loose texture to a depth of

30 cm. About 10 Mg ha−1 of decomposed FYM is suﬃcient

for corm multiplication (Menia etal. 2018). The maximum

amount of FYM (10 Mg ha−1), P2O5 (60 kg ha−1), and K2O

(60 kg ha−1), and 1/4th amount of nitrogen (22.5 kg ha−1)

should be added as a top dressing at 12- to 15-day intervals.

Manure and fertilizer applications should be managed in the

following years during August, through intercultural activi-

ties like ploughing, hoeing and leveling of land.

9.5 Planting time

The saﬀron corms should be planted from the second fort-

night of August to the ﬁrst fortnight of September. Corms

are sown by hand behind the plough after bed formation.

Saﬀron prefers chilly winters, wet autumns, precipitation

during spring, and warm dry summers. Corm multiplica-

tion is aided by spring rain and early autumn rain increases

ﬂower production (Menia etal. 2018). According to Bayat

etal. (2016), June to July are the best months for sowing

saﬀron corms in the Mashhad region in Iran. Koocheki etal.

(2016) reported that growth and ﬂowering indexes of saﬀron

gradually decreased when the planting date was delayed. The

highest and lowest ﬂoral yield was recorded when the corms

were planted in June and October, respectively. Spring seed-

ing results in increased growth and production of saﬀron due

to corm dormancy during this time. The most appropriate

time to sow corms in India is considered to be from the last

week of August until mid-September (Husaini etal. 2010).

According to Gresta etal. (2016), the optimal time to sow

saﬀron corm is in August in Italy. Kaﬁ etal. (2018) reported

that the best time to sow corms is from the ﬁnal week of

August to the middle of September.

9.6 Plant spacing/density

Plant density aﬀects stigma yield and the biochemical com-

ponents of saﬀron. Dense plantings increases the number

of plants and ﬂowers, which increases total yield. High

corm density leads to bigger ﬂowers with heavier stigma.

The total yield is more aﬀected by the number of ﬂowers

than the stigma weight (Andabjadid etal. 2015). Koocheki

etal. (2014) reported that ﬂowers and corm yield increased

when the corms are planted densely. When 300 (ﬁrst year)

or 200 (second year) corms m−2 were planted, mother corms

weighing 4–6 g produced the maximum number of ﬂowers.

Nonetheless, depending on mother corm size, the planting

density can be less or more than 200 corm m−2. According

to Mohammad etal. (2011), a 10–20 cm planting pattern was

beneﬁcial in terms of fresh dry stigma yield (12 kg ha−1),

ﬂower yield (170 kg ha−1), average corm weight (9.2 g), and

mean corm diameter (1.5 cm). In Spain, corms are planted

in 20-cm-deep ditches in two rows either 8–10 cm or 12–15

cm apart depending on their arrangement, alternate or rec-

tangular, respectively. The corms are then covered with the

soil of a neighboring furrow, which is 30–35 cm apart (Kaﬁ

etal. 2018). In Kashmir, 1.5–2 m wide and 2–3 m long rec-

tangular strips are used on the ﬁeld with drainage lines that

are 30 cm wide and 20 cm deep on both sides (Husaini etal.

2010). In these raised beds the corms are planted 12–15 cm

deep with a spacing of 10 × 20 cm between corms and rows,

respectively (Munshi etal. 2001).

9.7 Corm rate

The amount of corms required for planting in a 1-ha area

depends on the corm size, crop period, and spacing. Approx-

imately 2.5–3.0 Mg of corms in weight or about 500,000

corms in number with a mean diameter of 2.5 cm are needed

for 1 ha (Kumar etal. 2009). According to Kaﬁ etal. (2018),

in conventional systems, corms are sown at a distance of 25

cm from each other on hills, sometimes with a maximum of

15 corms per hill planted randomly. It was also reported that

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

ﬂatbed seeding is beneﬁcial compared to planting in grooves

(Kaﬁ and Showket 2007).

9.8 Crop rotation/Intercropping

Crop rotation helps enhance soil fertility (Kaﬁ etal. 2018).

Crop rotation is also useful to control pests, diseases, and

weeds. It is common practice in Kashmir, India, to rotate

the saﬀron ﬁelds to another crop after a planting cycle of

around 15 years. The ﬁelds are either left bare or planted to

maize, oat, or linseed for 2 to 3 years to prevent insect pests

and diseases from building up and to restore soil fertility

(Kaﬁ etal. 2018; Nehvi etal. 2008). Saﬀron is rotated with

legumes and wheat in central Italy (Dar etal. 2017). Saﬀron

is cultivated in Iran as a divider between rows of crops like

barberry, almond, and grapes. Khosravi (2005) conducted

an experiment over a period of 6 years on multiple cropping

of black cumin with saﬀron (corms of saﬀron + tuberous

roots of cumin) at three diﬀerent corm planting density of

30, 50, and 70 corm m−2. He took substitute rates of 25:75,

50:50, and 75:25 (saﬀron:cumin). Results showed that, a

combination of 50:50 substitute rate and a density of 70

corms m−2 gave the best results. For a 6-year duration the

average production of saﬀron was recorded to be 10.48 kg

ha−1 when grown alone and 9.43 kg ha−1 with a seed ratio

of 75:25, 7.67 kg ha−1 for 50:50, and 3.58 kg ha−1 for 25:75

(saﬀron:cumin). Gresta etal. (2016) found that faba bean as

a previous crop signiﬁcantly promotes saﬀron stigma and

corm output, and found that the maximum corm density of

45 corms m−2 improved stigma and corm development com-

pared with the lowest corm density. Sameer etal. (2018)

reported that due to longer crop duration of about 15 years,

poor agronomic practices, and mono-cropping of saﬀron,

46% of the soil in saﬀron ﬁelds is contaminated with fungi,

which results in a high frequency of corm rot diseases.

9.9 Nutrient management

Saﬀron does not require high amounts of nutrients. High

fertilizer application, especially nitrogen fertilizer, pro-

motes growth but reduces yield (Kaﬁ etal. 2018). The yield

of saﬀron responds strongly to the degree of soil fertility

(Mohammad etal. 2012). The use of 20–30 Mg ha−1 of

organic manure is the most common fertilization practice

worldwide (Koocheki 2003). Sameer etal. (2018) reported

that under a biannual planting cycle corm rot can be con-

trolled by using Tricoderma viride along with vermicompost

on a soil which is already treated with neem cake. According

to Mohammad etal. (2012) an application of 20 to 30 Mg

ha−1 FYM in combination with chemical N (23 kg ha−1) sig-

niﬁcantly increases the soil fertility. A blend of cow manure

(20 Mg ha−1) and urea (50 kg ha−1) obtained the highest

yield (0.45 g m−2), maximum fresh ﬂower weight (0.89 g),

and the longest stigmas (29 mm). The application of nitro-

gen increases vegetative growth but does not signiﬁcantly

increase yield. Large quantities of FYM are added during

cultivation in traditional saﬀron culture for a total of around

20 to 30 Mg ha−1. FYM provides nutrients, increases the

water holding capacity of the soil, and improves soil struc-

ture in non-irrigated conditions. No fertilizer is applied in

the ﬁeld after the corms are planted (Dar etal. 2017). Farm-

ers in Iran use FYM (10–80 Mg ha−1) but inorganic fertiliz-

ers are also used following the ﬁrst irrigation in early autumn

after breaking the soil crust with levels of 100 kg of ammo-

nium phosphate and 100 kg of urea ha−1 past ﬁrst weed-

ing (Behnia 2008; Ghorbani and Koocheki 2017). Omidi

etal. (2009) observed that inorganic and organic fertilizers

provide increased quantitative and qualitative yields in saf-

fron. Alidadi etal. (2013) reported that saﬀron yield was

increased by 10.2% with an increase of vermicompost from

4 Mg ha−1 to 8 Mg ha−1 due to the low electrical conductiv-

ity and availability of nutrients in the soil. Increasing sulfur

granular compost from 4 Mg ha−1 to 8 Mg ha−1 reduced saf-

fron yield by 70.8% due to increased electrical conductivity.

Hence, it can be stated that the main reason for the saﬀron

yield decrease was high electrical conductivity. Jami etal.

(2020) reported that the use of vermicompost at 24 Mg ha−1

and mycorrhiza at 400 kg ha−1 increased the ﬂower number

by 28.08% during the second year.

9.10 Water management

Saﬀron is suitable for arid and semi-arid areas because the

corms go through a 5-month period of dormancy when they

do not require water, starting in early May when spring pre-

cipitation is almost over (Kaﬁ etal. 2018). Mosaferi (2001)

reported that mid-June irrigation caused a 17% saﬀron yield

reduction, while ﬂower yield increased by about 20% with

summer irrigation done at the end of August. The risk of

fungal diseases is typically increased by summer irrigation.

Supplemental basin irrigation should be used for irrigation.

As precipitation tends to wane in autumn, irrigation up to

100 mm is required prior to ﬂowering. A post-anthesis irri-

gation of about 50 mm is adequate for economic output in

areas with seasonal rainfall of 600 mm. Additional irrigation

with a 24- or 15-day interval, or irrigation regimes of 50%

ETp (potential crop evapotranspiration) and 75% ETp, is

required in areas receiving 400 and 200 mm of rainfall dur-

ing the season, respectively (Sepaskhah and Kamgar 2009).

Koocheki etal. (2014) showed that the ﬂoral characteristics

were not aﬀected by applying only 50% of the saﬀron water

requirement (SWR) in the ﬁrst year. But the ﬂower number

and dry stigma yields decreased signiﬁcantly during the sec-

ond year when applying only 50% of the SWR, compared

to 75% or 100% of the SWR. Sprinkler irrigation at 700

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

m3 ha−1 increased saﬀron productivity by 40% (Nehvi and

Makhdoomi 2007).

9.11 Weed management

Weed management is essential for the healthy growth of a

crop. Hand weeding is done in Italy’s annual crops while

perennial crops are managed with the herbicides Simazine

(Gesatop 50) or Atrazine (Gesaprim 50) at 1.0 kg ha−1

(Dar etal. 2017). It is diﬃcult to use the torsion and ﬁnger

weeders in saﬀron mainly because of the presence of new

corms outside of the ﬁrst crop row. Also, the rocky soils

are an obstacle to these instruments (Cirujeda etal. 2014).

In the saﬀron ﬁelds of Gonabad, Iran, Zare Hosseini etal.

(2014) reported that the predominant weed species were

only hoary cress (Cardaria draba), mouse barley (Hordeum

murinum), wild gold barley (Hordeum spontaneum), and

yarrow (Achillea millefolium). In India, vegetative growth

in saﬀron occurs from October/November through April,

and weeds grow easily in the empty ﬁelds during the dor-

mancy period of saﬀron from May–September. Major weed

species reported in the saﬀron ﬁelds of J&K (Union ter-

ritory of Jammu and Kashmir) in India are Chenopodium

album, Tulipa stellata, Papaver rhoae, Lepidium virgini-

cum, Euphorbia helioscopia, Salvia moorcroftiana, Filago

arvense, Galium tricorne, Polygonum aviculare, Erodium

cicutarium, Ranunculus arvensis, Medicago lupilina, Poa

bulbosa, and Lithospermum arvense (Husaini etal. 2010).

Spraying Ioxynil (750 g a.i. [grams of active ingredient]

ha−1) and Tribenoron methyl (18.75 g a.i. ha−1) at the 6–8

leaf stage after harvest were highly eﬀective at controlling

weeds. Metribuzin (560 g a.i. ha−1) is used to a large extent

in spring or autumn to manage weeds without harm to the

saﬀron (Menia etal. 2018).

9.12 Harvesting

Saﬀron harvesting involves the plucking of ﬂowers and sepa-

ration of stigmas. The collection of ﬂowers starts when they

appear in the ﬁeld (Kaﬁ etal. 2018). Collection of ﬂowers

begins in Khorasan-Iran from October to November but var-

ies from region to region depending upon the variation in

climate and ﬁrst irrigation time (Kaﬁ and Showket 2007).

Early in the morning ﬂowers are primarily picked by ladies

of the family and to a small degree by recruited workers

in Kashmir. Picked ﬂowers are then carried under the roof

for separating stigmas from the ﬂower. Separated sections

of the ﬂower are then left for drying under shade (during a

sunny day) for over 2–3 days (Husaini etal. 2010). Flow-

ering takes place in Italy from mid-October to November

10. In Spain, this day is known as "the day of the mantel,"

i.e., the time of the greatest expulsion of anthesis, and the

countryside appears to be wrapped in a mantle of ﬂowers.

Dar etal. (2017) reported that depending upon the weather,

a saﬀron plant usually ﬂowers in the autumn, about 40 days

after planting.

9.13 Crop productivity

The ﬂoral scale and ratio of diﬀerent parts of the ﬂower are

prejudiced by many environmental and genetic factors. For

the production of 1 kg of dry stigmata and style, 78.5 kg of

fresh ﬂowers (approximately 170,000 ﬂowers) are needed in

Khorasan (Husaini etal. 2010). Dar etal. (2017) reported

that corm size has a major impact on the number of ﬂowers

per corm. Twelve ﬂowers per corm are produced by corms

weighing > 45 g and 6 daughter corms on average are pro-

duced by corms weighing 20–30 g. A good practice is to

select the ﬂowers at dawn every day when the corolla is still

closed so as not to lose color and quality, to avoid sudden

wind or rain losses, and to allow easy removal of the constit-

uent parts of the ﬂowers (Tammaro 1990). Daily harvesting

by hand is required in the saﬀron farm as only three ﬂowers

are produced per plant. One kilogram of dried saﬀron is

produced by 78 kg of fresh ﬂowers and approx. 2170 ﬂow-

ers make up 1 kg of fresh ﬂowers. The stigma is the ﬁnal

product that has commercial value (Emadi 2009). Life cycle

of saﬀron crop in the western Himalaya is depicted in Fig.3.

10 Post‑harvest management

10.1 Drying

Drying of saﬀron stigmas after harvesting plays an impor-

tant role in determining its quality. Many researchers have

studied drying and stigma quality with diﬀerent results.

Acar etal. (2011) compared the quality of saﬀron by

assessing crocin and safranal in the stigmas dried in a

freeze drier (− 40 °C for 4 h) and stigmas dried in the

sun (at ambient temperature 18 °C). Their results showed

that safranal and crocin were higher in stigmas that were

freeze-dried. Feili etal. (2012) used an indirect solar dry-

ing method and compared the quality of dried stigmas with

that of the traditional method. They reported that the qual-

ity of solar-dried stigmas was better as compared with

traditionally dried stigmas. Chaouqi etal. (2018) showed

that drying saﬀron stigmas in the oven at 40 °C is bet-

ter as compared to the traditional methods. Chen etal.

(2020) used diﬀerent drying methods, including vacuum

drying, freeze-drying, microwave drying, oven drying, and

infrared drying, and found that crocin I was highest in

the sample that was oven-dried and lowest in the infrared

dried sample. Crocin II was highest in the freeze-dried

sample. It can be concluded from the above experiments

that freeze and oven-dried stigmas have better quality as

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

compared to traditionally dried stigmas but this method

is not cost eﬀective and may not be suitable for small and

marginal farmers.

10.2 Storage

Proper storage of saﬀron corms is important to prevent

sprouting (Kumar etal. 2009). Saﬀron corms are kept in

earthen pots or polybags without considering moisture in

Kashmir (Mir etal. 2008). Saﬀron with an initial moisture

content of 8 to 10% can be stored at an ambient temperature

of 10 °C in airtight containers safely for 6 months (Menia

etal. 2018). Storing corms at 30 °C results in high stigma

and daughter corm production (Siracusa etal., 2010). Cavu-

soglu (2010) experimented and compared corms kept at 8

°C for 7 to 28 days with that of corms kept under controlled

conditions at room temperature. He reported that as the dura-

tion of corms stored at 8 °C increases (up to 28 days) their

yield attributes (number of ﬂowers, dry and fresh stigma

production) decreases signiﬁcantly. Hajyzadeh etal. (2017)

observed that to obtain high yield, corms must be stored at

25 °C.

11 Adulteration

Saﬀron is a costly commodity, hence it is subject to fraud

by dealers in diﬀerent ways. Food adulteration involves the

addition of any kind of inexpensive material to costly or

valuable products so that products with the lowest cost and

maximum proﬁt are made. The most common kind of fraud

in the process of saﬀron production is the introduction or

mixture of similar products like saﬄower, red-colored silk

ﬁber, beet, marigold with red saﬀron stigma, and pomegran-

ate (Heidarbeigi etal. 2015). Many researchers have worked

on methods for detecting diﬀerent kinds of adulterants in

saﬀron. Varliklioz Er etal. (2017) developed and tested

laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), attenuated

total reﬂectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR)

spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy using Principal Con-

stituent Analysis (PCA), to assess and quantify adulterants

such as saﬄower, pill and turmeric. The LIBS technique

and PLS showed that plant adulterant susceptibility in saf-

fron below 10% can be sensitized, which is hard to detect

with the UV–Vis reference spectroscopy system. The dif-

fuse reﬂectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy

(DRIFTS) and chemometric methods were used by Petrakis

Fig. 3 Life cycle of saﬀron crop

in the western Himalaya

Corm sowing

(September-October)

Flowering (October

November)

Vegetative growth

(December-April)

Leaf senescence

(May)

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

and Polissiou (2017) to test the deﬁlement of saﬀron with

six distinguishing plant adulterants i.e. turmeric, garde-

nia, C. sativus stamen, and calendula. They concluded that

DRIFTS was a safe, cost-eﬀective alternative with chemo-

metric analysis for rapid assessment of saﬀron adulteration

with plant derivatives. Petrakis etal. (2015) used 1H NMR

metabolite ﬁngerprinting for the evaluation of saﬀron adul-

teration with plant products by applying both OPLS-DA and

O2PLS-DA models to the 1H NMR data. They concluded

that NMR metabolite ﬁngerprinting is more eﬃcient than

the ISO 3632 method for the determination of adulteration

in saﬀron, especially in powdered form.

12 Marketing

Marketing channels are signiﬁcant because they are the

ones who support and rationalize how every consumer gets

their desired products (Qadri 2018). Channel organization

is the main research area in marketing nowadays, and exist-

ing research conﬁrms the unhealthy market channels in

saﬀron (Hamid etal. 2017). The growers who have asym-

metric knowledge of market conditions and inadequate infra-

structural transport and storage facilities incur heavy losses

(Ganie and Nusrath 2016). Kheirandish and Gowda (2012)

reported that if the number of mediators decreases and the

government arbitrates pro-active approaches to develop and

make the marketing cooperatives union more eﬃcient, and

the farmers use such syndicates as a proﬁtable channel for

selling their products, they have a considerable scope for

increasing producer shares in consumer prices. In Kashmir,

India, farmers sell their produce through middlemen and

incur large losses due to poor knowledge of demand and

supply at the end markets and ﬁnancial instability (Ali and

Hakim 2017). Hamid etal. (2017) have concluded that the

marketing cost incurred by the farmer was ₹ 2,41,744 kg−1

and physical loss was of ₹ 44,876 kg−1. As far as the whole-

saler was concerned, the marketing cost was ₹ 2,54,960 kg−1

and for the retailer, it was ₹ 2,60,223 kg−1. The physical loss

for the wholesaler was ₹ 26,717 kg−1 while it was ₹ 15,027

kg−1 for the retailer. The marketing margin of wholesaler

was ₹ 13,823 kg−1 and for the retailer, it was ₹ 1,46,431

kg−1. Marketing channels play a crucial role in determining

the proﬁt and loss to the farmer. Hence, farmers should take

utmost care and acquire proper knowledge about the market

practices.

13 Work onsaron ower petals

As only the stigma of the saﬀron ﬂower is used economi-

cally, the rest of the ﬂower is considered as waste or is

used as a fertilizer (Zeka etal. 2015). However, research-

ers have reported that other parts of the ﬂower have activi-

ties that can be used economically and will be beneﬁcial

for growers. Zeka etal. (2015) reported the presence of

kaempferol (at 126 mg g−1 of dry weight, much more

than broccoli), which shows antioxidant activity and can

be used as a food supplement. Indeed, antioxidant activ-

ity and presence of kaempferol have been reported by

many researchers (Menghini etal. 2018; Montoro etal.

2012; Righi etal. 2015; Serrano-Diaz etal. 2014, 2012)

using diﬀerent methods. Khoshsang and Ghaﬀarinejad

(2018) reported the eﬀectiveness of saﬀron ﬂower petals

as a biosorbent in removing harmful Pb2+ ions from the

wastewater.

It can be concluded from the above cited works that saf-

fron ﬂower, which is currently considered to be a waste,

has immense potential to be utilized in diﬀerent ways by

pharmaceutical and food industries. Developing these appli-

cations would be a boon to the farmers indulged in growing

saﬀron.Patents granted in saﬀron during the 2010 to 2019

are presented in Table5.

14 Conclusion

Saﬀron is an expensive spice crop that is predominantly

grown in Iran. It is used by food and dye industries around

the world. Many researchers have also demonstrated its

therapeutic properties, and hence it can be utilized as a

medicinal crop, though it may not be very cost eﬀective.

Demand for this spice crop in India is increasing and a large

portion of this is met by import from countries such as Iran,

which costs a hefty amount to the country’s exchequer. To

meet the demand and cut the imports, there is a need to

increase the area under cultivation for this crop in India. In

this respect, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Tech-

nology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh introduced saﬀron as

a crop in non-traditional areas across India in 2018–19 and

2019–20 (Fig.4). As only the stigma of the ﬂower of saﬀron

is used, the rest ﬂower part goes into waste. Not much work

has been done to utilize the remaining ﬂoral parts, and hence

it becomes an important aspect for further research.

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

Table 5 List of patents granted in saﬀron during 2010 to 2019

Patent number Title Inventor Date of grant References

CN102078276B Saﬀron series of plant colorful hair

dying cream

Li Qun, Xiao Ziying 04-07-2012 Ziying and Qun (2012)

CN101904267B Sinkiang saﬀron planting technology Lan Wei 13-02-2013 Wei (2013)

CN103299795A Cultivation method of saﬀron Usan 18-09-2013 Usan (2013)

CN103805340A Method for extracting saﬀron crocus

essential oil

Zhang Ziyu 21-05-2014 Ziyu (2014)

CN103814734A Saﬀron crocus planting method Zhu Zhiming 28-05-2014 Zhiming (2014)

CN104584830A Method of planting saﬀron crocus in

Tibet region

Liu Qibin 06-05-2015 Qibin (2015)

CN103782790B Method for cultivating saﬀron buds Qian Xiaodong, Yao Chong, Jiang

Fengqin

03-06-2015 Xiaodong etal. (2015)

CN104782368A Saﬀron corms propagation method He Wei, Zhou Wei, Yan Yawen, Chen

Yanhai

22-07-2015 Ye etal. (2015)

IN2015MU01663A A process for extraction and puriﬁcation

of safranal

Jayant Kulkarni Sudha, Amruta

Basavraj Patil Ms Sadanand Sane,

Aneesh Ketki, Sanjay Bhise Ms, B

Dhamole Pradip, A Desai Shashikant

14-08-2015 Sudha etal. (2015)

CN103263373B One kind of saﬀron shower gel and

preparation method

Jiang Cheng, Sun Jingjia, Wang Yuan,

Huang Xiaodong

11-11-2015 Cheng etal. (2015)

CN102860176B Portable saﬀron harvesting machine Li Shufeng, Li Jingbin, Ge Yun, Wang

Lei, Li Hua

20-01-2016 Shufeng etal (2016)

US20170067063A1 Methods for recombinant production of

saﬀron compounds

A.S. Sathish Kumar 09-03-2017 Kumar (2017)

CN108112296A Treating method for corm of saﬀron Liu Falong 05-06-2018 Falong (2018)

ES2646415B1 Biowaste saﬀron extracts as active

ingredients of cosmetic products

antioxidants

Nuria Acero De Mesa, Dolores Munoz

Mingarro, Eva M Bielsa Pons

28-09-2018 De Mesa etal. (2016)

GB2498660B A composition comprising resveratrol

and saﬀron

Piraee Mahmood 01-10-2019 Mahmood (2017)

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to the Director, CSIR-

IHBT, Palampur, for providing the necessary facilities during this

study. The authors are thankful to Er Amit Kumar, Senior Principal

Scientist, CSIR-IHBT for plotting the ﬁgure of saﬀron introduction.

Financial assistance received under the project “Introduction of high

value spice saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) in un-explored areas (MLP

0127)” from the Council of Scientiﬁc and Industrial Research, New

Delhi is acknowledged. This is CSIR-IHBT Manuscript Number 4666.

Author’s contribution Overall planning, guidance, paper editing

was done by Dr. Rakesh Kumar. Deepak Kothari and Rajesh Thakur

searched the literature and prepared the manuscript.

Declarations

Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conﬂict of

interest.

References

Abdullaev FI, Frenkel GD (1992) Eﬀect of saﬀron on cell colony for-

mation and cellular nucleic acid and protein synthesis. BioFac-

tors 3(3):201–204

Acar B, Sadikoglu H, Ozkaymak M (2011) Freeze drying of saﬀron

(Crocus sativus L.). Dry Technol 29:1622–1627. https:// doi. org/

10. 1080/ 07373 937. 2011. 590263

Akhondzadeh S, Shaﬁee Sabet M, Harirchian MH, Togha M, Cher-

aghmakani H, Razeghi S, Hejazi SS, Youseﬁ MH, Alimardani

R, Jamshidi A, Rezazadeh SA, Youseﬁ A, Zare F, Moradi A,

Vossoughi A (2010) A 22-week, multicenter, randomized, dou-

ble-blind controlled trial of Crocus sativus in the treatment of

mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Psychopharmacology

207:637–643. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s00213- 009- 1706-1

Ali A, Hakim IA (2017) An overview of the production practices and

trade mechanism of saﬀron in Kashmir Valley (India): issues and

challenges. Pac Bus Rev Int 10:97–106

Alidadi H, Saﬀari AR, Peiravi R (2013) Eﬀects of biofertilizers eﬀects

of compost, vermicompost and sulfur compost on yield of saf-

fron. World Appl Sci J 21:1386–1390

Alonso GL, Salinas MR, Garijo J, Sanchez-Fernandez MA (2001)

Composition of crocin and picrocrocin from Spanish saﬀron

(Crocus sativus L.). J Food Qual 24:219–233

Alonso GL, Zalacain A, Carmona M (2012) Saﬀron. In: Peter KV (ed)

Handbook of herbs and spices, vol 1, 2nd edn. Woodhead Pub-

lishing, Cambridge, pp 469–498. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1533/ 97808

57095 671. 469

Andabjadid SS, Eslam BP, Bakhtavari ARS, Mohammadi H (2015)

Eﬀects of corm size and plant density on saﬀron (Crocus sativus

L.) yield and its components. Int J Agron Agril Res 6:20–26

Fig. 4 Introduction of saﬀron in nontraditional areas by CSIR IHBT during 2018–19 and 2019–20

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

Anonymous (2019) https:// www . tpci. in/ blogs/ produ ct- proﬁ le- saﬀr on/.

Accessed 19 Jan 2020

Assimopoulou AN, Sinakos Z, Papageorgiou VP (2005) Radical scav-

enging activity of Crocus sativus L. extract and its bioactive

constituents. Phyther Res 19:997–1000. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1002/

ptr. 1749

Aung HH, Wang CZ, Ni M, Fishbein A, Mehendale SR, Xie JT, Shoy-

ama CY, Yuan CS (2007) Crocin from Crocus sativus possesses

signiﬁcant anti-proliferation eﬀects on human colorectal cancer

cells. Exp Oncol 29:175–180

Aytekin A, Acikgoz AO (2008) Hormone and microorganism treat-

ments in the cultivation of saﬀron (Crocus Sativus L.) plants.

Molecules 13:1135–1147. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3390/ molec ules1

30511 35

Babaei S, Talebi M, Bahar M (2014) Developing an SCAR and ITS

reliable multiplex PCR-based assay forsaﬄower adulterant detec-

tion in saﬀron samples. Food Control 35:323–328. https:// doi.

org/ 10. 1016/j. foodc ont. 2013. 07. 019

Badie Bostan H, Mehri S, Hosseinzadeh H (2017) Toxicology eﬀects

of saﬀron and its constituents: a review. Iran J Basic Med Sci

20:110–121. https:// doi. org/ 10. 22038/ ijbms. 2017. 8230

Bathaie SZ, Farajzade A, Hoshyar R (2014) A review of the chemistry

and uses of crocins and crocetin, the carotenoid natural dyes

in saﬀron, with particular emphasis on applications as color-

ants including their use as biological stains. Biotech Histochem

89:401–411. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3109/ 10520 295. 2014. 890741

Bayat M, Rahimi M, Ramezani M (2016) Determining the most

eﬀective traits to improve saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) yield.

Physiol Mol Biol Plants 22:153–161. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/

s12298- 016- 0347-1

Behnia MR (2008) Eﬀect of planting methods and corm density in

saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) yield in Damavand region. Pajouhesh-

Va-Sazandegi 21:101–108

Bhandari PR (2015) Crocus sativus L. (saﬀron) for cancer chemo-

prevention: a mini review. J Tradit Complement Med 5:81–87.

https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. jtcme. 2014. 10. 009

Cagliani LR, Culeddu N, Chessa M, Consonni R (2015) NMR investi-

gations for a quality assessment of Italian PDO saﬀron (Crocus

sativus L.). Food Control 50:342–348. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j.

foodc ont. 2014. 09. 017

Caiola MG (2004) Saﬀron reproductive biology. Acta Hortic 650:25–37

Cardone L, Castronuovo D, Perniola M, Cicco N, Candido V (2020)

Saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.), the king of spices: an overview.

Sci Hortic 272:109560

Carmona M, Zalacain A, Sánchez AM, Novella JL, Alonso GL

(2006) Crocetin esters, picrocrocin and its related compounds

present in Crocus sativus stigmas and Gardenia jasminoides

fruits. Tentative identiﬁcation of seven new compounds by LC-

ESI-MS. J Agric Food Chem 54:973–979. https:// doi. org/ 10.

1021/ jf052 297w

Cavusoglu A (2010) The eﬀects of cold storage of saﬀron (Crocus

sativus L.) corms on morphology, stigma and corm yield. Afr

J Agric Res 5:1812–1820

Chaouqi S, Moratalla-Lopez N, Lage M, Lorenzo C, Alonso GL,

Guedira T (2018) Eﬀect of drying and storage process on

Moroccan saﬀron quality. Food Biosci 22:146–153. https://

doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. fbio. 2018. 02. 003

Chen Y, Zhang H, Tian X, Zhao C, Cai L, Liu Y etal (2008) Anti-

oxidant potential of crocins and ethanol extracts of Gardenia

jasminoides ELLIS and Crocus sativus L.: A relationship

investigation between antioxidant activity and crocin contents.

Food Chem. 109(3):484–492

Chen D, Xing B, Yi H, Li Y, Zheng B, Wang Y, Shao Q (2020)

Eﬀects of diﬀerent drying methods on appearance, microstruc-

ture, bioactive compounds and aroma compounds of saﬀron

(Crocus sativus L.). LWT 120:1–7. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j.

lwt. 2019. 108913

Cheng J, Jingjia S, Yuan W, Xiaodong H (2015) One kind of saf-

fron shower gel and preparation method. China patent

CN103263373B

Cirujeda A, Marí AI, Aibar J, Fenandez-Cavada S, Pardo G, Zaragoza

C (2014) Experiments on mechanical weed control in saﬀron

crops in Spain. J Plant Dis Prot 121:223–228. https:// doi. org/ 10.

1007/ BF033 56515

Dar MH, Groach R, Razvi SM, Singh N (2017) Saﬀron crop (golden

crop) in modern sustainable agricultural system. Int J Res Appl

Sci Eng Technol 5:247–259

Dastranj M, Sepaskhah AR (2019) Saffron response to irrigation

regime, salinity and planting method. Sci Hortic 251:215–224

De Juan JA, Córcoles HL, Muñoz RM, Picornell MR (2009) Yield and

yield components of saﬀron under diﬀerent cropping systems.

Ind Crops Prod 30(2):212–219

De Mesa NA, Munoz-Mingarro D, Pons EMB (2016) Biowaste saﬀron

extracts as active ingredients of cosmetic products antioxidants.

Spain patent ES2646415B1

Dhar AK, Mir GM (1997) Saﬀron in Kashmir-VI: a review of distribu-

tion and production. J Herbs Spices Med Plants 4:83–90. https://

doi. org/ 10. 1300/ J044v 04n04_ 09

Douglas MH, Smallﬁeld BM, Wallace AR, McGimpsey JA (2014)

Saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.): The eﬀect of mother corm size on

progeny multiplication, ﬂower and stigma production. Sci Hortic

166:50–58

Emadi B (2009) Separating saﬀron ﬂower parts using vertical air col-

umn. World Acad Sci Eng Technol 37:25–28

Escribano J, Alonso GL, Coca-Prados M, Fernandez JA (1996) Crocin,

safranal and picrocrocin from saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) inhibit

the growth of human cancer cells invitro. Cancer Lett 100:23–

30. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/ 0304- 3835(95) 04067-6

Falong L (2018) Treating method for corm of saﬀron. China patent

CN108112296A

Feili HR, Aghaee EM, Taslimi A (2012) Study of chemical and micro-

biological properties of saﬀron dehydrated by using solar drying

system. Int J Renew Energy Res 2:627–630. https:// doi. org/ 10.

20508/ ijrer. 89939

Fornasier VL, Protzner K, Zhang I, Mason L (1996) The prognostic

signiﬁcance of histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry in

giant cell tumors of bone. Hum pathol 27(8):754–760

Ganie MA, Nusrath A (2016) Marketing and trade mechanism of saf-

fron (Crocus sativus) 7:55–62. https:// doi. org/ 10. 9790/ 5933-

07050 45562

Ghorbani R, Koocheki A (2017) Sustainable cultivation of saﬀron in

Iran. In: Lichtfouse E (ed) Sustainable agriculture reviews, vol

25. Springer, Cham, pp 169–203

Golmohammadi F (2014) Saﬀron and its farming, economic impor-

tance, export, medicinal characteristics and various uses in South

Khorasan Province-East of Iran. Int J Farm Allied Sci 3:566–596

Gregory MJ, Menary RC, Davies NW (2005) Eﬀect of drying tem-

perature and air ﬂow on the production and retention of second-

ary metabolites in saﬀron. J Agric Food Chem 53:5969–5975.

https:// doi. org/ 10. 1021/ jf047 989j

Gresta F, Lombardo GM, Siracusa L, Ruberto G (2008) Saﬀron, an

alternative crop for sustainable agricultural systems. A review.

Agron Sustain Dev 28:95–112. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1051/ agro:

20070 30

Gresta F, Santonoceto C, Avola G (2016) Crop rotation as an eﬀective

strategy for saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) cultivation. Sci Hortic

(amst) 211:34–39. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. scien ta. 2016. 08. 007

Hajyzadeh M, Asil H, Yildirim MU, Sarihan EO, Ayanoglu F, Khawar

KM (2017) Evaluating eﬀects of corm circumference and stor-

age temperatures on yield and yield components of saﬀron at

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

diﬀerent elevations. Acta Hortic 1184:39–46. https:// doi. org/ 10.

17660/ ActaH ortic. 2017. 1184.6

Hamid N, Kachroo J, Bhat A, Peer QJ (2017) An economic analysis of

marketing and price spread of saﬀron in J&K State. J Pharma-

cogn Phytochem 6:1231–1239

Heidarbeigi K, Mohtasebi SS, Foroughirad A, Ghasemi-Varnamkhasti

M, Raﬁee S, Rezaei K (2015) Detection of adulteration in saﬀron

samples using electronic nose. Int J Food Prop 18:1391–1401.

https:// doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 10942 912. 2014. 915850

Hosseini A, Razavi BM, Hosseinzadeh H (2018) Saﬀron (Crocus sati-

vus) petal as a new pharmacological target: a review. Iran J Basic

Med Sci 21:1091–1099

Hosseinzadeh H, Sadeghnia HR, Ghaeni FA, Motamedshariaty VS,

Mohajeri SA (2012) Eﬀects of saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) and

its active constituent, crocin, on recognition and spatial memory

after chronic cerebral hypoperfusion in rats. Phyther Res 26:381–

386. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1002/ ptr. 3566

Humphries J (1996) The essential saﬀron companion. Ten Speed Press,

Berkeley, p 20

Humphries J (1998) The essential saﬀron companion. Ten Speed Press

Husaini AM, Hassan B, Ghani MY, Teixeira da Silva JA, Kirmani

NA (2010) Saﬀron (Crocus sativus Kashmirianus) cultivation

in Kashmir: practices and problems. Funct Plant Sci Biotechnol

4:108–115

Jami N, Rahimi A, Naghizadeh M, Sedaghati E (2020) Investigating

the use of diﬀerent levels of Mycorrhiza and Vermicompost on

quantitative and qualitative yield of saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.).

Sci Hortic (amst) 262:109027. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. scien ta.

2019. 109027

Jan S, Wani AA, Kamili AN, Kashtwari M (2014) Distribution, chemi-

cal composition and medicinal importance of saﬀron (Crocus

sativus L.). Afr J Plant Sci 8:537–545

Kabiri M, Rezadoost H, Ghassempour A (2017) A comparative quality

study of saﬀron constituents through HPLC and HPTLC methods

followed by isolation of crocins and picrocrocin. LWT 84:1–9

Kaﬁ M, Showket T (2007) A comparative study of saﬀron agronomy

and production systems of Khorasan (Iran) and Kashmir (India).

Acta Hortic 739:123–132. https:// doi. org/ 10. 17660/ ActaH ortic.

2007. 739. 16

Kaﬁ M, Kamili AN, Husaini AM, Ozturk M, Altay V (2018) An expen-

sive spice saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.): a case study from Kashmir,

Iran, and Turkey. In: Ozturk M, Hakeem K, Ashraf M, Ahmad

M (eds) Global perspectives on underutilized crops. Springer,

Cham, pp 109–149

Khan MA, Naseer S, Nagoo S, Nehvi FA (2011) Behaviour of saf-

fron (Crocus sativus L.) corms for daughter corm production.

J Phytol 3:47–49

Kheirandish M, Gowda MVS (2012) Marketing eﬃciency and price

spread for saﬀron in Iran. Trends Agric Econ 5:23–30

Khoshsang H, Ghaﬀarinejad A (2018) Rapid removal of lead (II)

ions from aqueous solutions by saﬀron ﬂower waste as a green

biosorbent. J Environ Chem Eng 6:6021–6027. https:// doi. org/

10. 1016/j. jece. 2018. 09. 020

Khosravi M, (2005) Agroecological and economic prospects for inter-

cropping cumin with saﬀron and annual crops. MSc. thesis, Fer-

dowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

Koocheki AA (2003) Indigenous knowledge in agriculture with par-

ticular reference to saﬀron production in Iran. In: International

symposium on saﬀron biology and biotechnology, vol 650, pp

175–182

Koocheki A, Alizadeh A, Ganjali A (2010) The eﬀect of increased

temperature on ﬂowering behaviour of saﬀron (Crocus sativus

L.). Iran J Food Crop Res 8:324–335. https:// www . sid. ir/ en/ journ

al/ ViewP aper. aspx? ID= 220320

Koocheki A, Seyyedi SM, Eyni MJ (2014) Irrigation levels and dense

planting aﬀect ﬂower yield and phosphorus concentration of

saﬀron corms under semi-arid region of Mashhad. Northeast

Iran Sci Hortic (amst) 180:147–155. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j.

scien ta. 2014. 10. 031

Koocheki A, Rezvani MP, Fallahi HR (2016) Eﬀects of planting dates,

irrigation management and cover crops on growth and yield of

saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.). Agroecology 8:435–451. https://

www. sid. ir/ en/ Journ al/ ViewP aper. aspx? ID= 545220

Kumar ASS (2017) Methods for recombinant production of saﬀron

compounds 1. US patent US20170067063A1

Kumar R, Sharma OC (2017) Saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) growth and

yield as inﬂuenced by organic farming practices. J Agric Ecol

4:25–32

Kumar R, Singh V, Devi K, Sharma M, Singh MK, Ahuja PS (2009)

State of art of saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) agronomy: a compre-

hensive review. Food Rev Int 25(1):44–85. https:// doi. org/ 10.

1080/ 87559 12080 24585 03

Lage M, Cantrell CL (2009) Quantiﬁcation of saﬀron (Crocus sati-

vus L.) metabolites crocins, picrocrocin and safranal for quality

determination of the spice grown under diﬀerent environmental

Moroccan conditions. Sci hortic 121(3):366–373

Leone S, Recinella L, Chiavaroli A, Orlando G, Ferrante C, Leporini

L, Brunetti L, Menghini L (2018) Phytotherapic use of the Cro-

cus sativus L. (Saﬀron) and its potential applications: a brief

overview. Phyther Res 32:2364–2375. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1002/

ptr. 6181

Levine DS, Surawicz CM, Ajer TN, Dean PJ, Rubin CE (1988) Diﬀuse

excess mucosal collagen in rectal biopsies facilitates diﬀerential

diagnosis of solitary rectal ulcer syndrome from other inﬂamma-

tory bowel diseases. Dig dis sci 33(11):1345–1352

Maggi L, Carmona M, Zalacain A, Kanakis CD, Anastasaki E, Tar-

antilis PA, Polissiou MG, Alonso GL (2010) Changes in saf-

fron volatile proﬁle according to its storage time. Food Res Int

43:1329–1334. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. foodr es. 2010. 03. 025

Maggi MA, Bisti S, Picco C (2020) Saﬀron: chemical composition and

neuroprotective activity. Molecules 25:1–15

Mahmood P (2017) A composition comprising resveratrol and saﬀron.

United Kingdom patent GB2498660B

Melnyk JP, Wang S, Marcone MF (2010) Chemical and biological

properties of the world’s most expensive spice: saﬀron. Food Res

Int 43:1981–1989. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. foodr es. 2010. 07. 033

Menghini L, Leporini L, Vecchiotti G, Locatelli M, Carradori S, Fer-

rante C, Zengin G, Recinella L, Chiavaroli A, Leone S, Brunetti

L, Orlando G (2018) Crocus sativus L. stigmas and byproducts:

qualitative ﬁngerprint, antioxidant potentials and enzyme inhibi-

tory activities. Food Res Int 109:91–98. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j.

foodr es. 2018. 04. 028

Menia M, Iqbal S, Zahida R, Tahir S, Rh K, Aa S (2018) Production

technology of saﬀron for enhancing productivity. J Pharmacogn

Phytochem 7:1033–1039

Milajerdi A, Djafarian K, Hosseini B (2016) The toxicity of saﬀron

(Crocus sativus L.) and its constituents against normal and can-

cer cells. J Nutr Intermed Metab 3:23–32. https:// doi. org/ 10.

1016/j. jnim. 2015. 12. 332

Mir MA, Nehvi FA, Agarwal SG (2008) Post harvest processing and

value addition. In: Nehvi FA, Wani SA (eds) Saffron Prod.

Jammu Kashmir, Dir. Ext. Educ. SKUAST-K, India, pp 242–255

Mirsaﬁ ZS, Sepaskhah AR, Ahmadi SH, Kamgar-Haghighi AA (2016)

Assessment of AquaCrop model for simulating growth and yield

of saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.). Sci Hortic 211:343–351

Mohammad AAA, Rezvani MP, Fallahi J (2011) Eﬀects of planting

pattern and the ﬁrst irrigation date on growth and yield of saﬀron

(Crocus sativus L.). Agroecology 3:83–93

Mohammad M, Amiri ME, Sharghi Y (2012) Respond of saﬀron (Cro-

cus sativus L.) to animal manure application. J Med Plants Res

6:1323–1326

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

Molina RV, Renau-Morata B, Nebauer SG, Garcia-Luis A, Guardiola

JL (2010) Greenhouse saﬀron culture-temperature eﬀects on

ﬂower emergence and vegetative growth of the plants. Acta

Hortic 850:91–94

Montoro P, Maldini M, Luciani L, Tuberoso CIG, Congiu F, Pizza C

(2012) Radical scavenging activity and LC-MS metabolic proﬁl-

ing of petals, stamens, and ﬂowers of Crocus sativus L. J Food

Sci 77:1–8. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/j. 1750- 3841. 2012. 02803.x

Mosaferi ZH (2001) Eﬀects of diﬀerent irrigation regimes on saﬀron

yield. MSc. thesis, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran

Mousavi SZ, Bathaie SZ (2011) Historical uses of saﬀron: identifying

potential new avenues for modern research. Avicenna J Phytomed

1:57–66

Munshi AM, Wani SA, Tak GM (2001) Improved cultivation practices

for saﬀron. In: Proceedings of seminar-cum-workshop on saﬀron

(Crocus Sativus), pp 83–88

Mushtaq A, Gul Z, Mehfuza H, Ameeque A, Dar NA, Dar ZA (2014)

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in the light of biotechnological

approaches: a review. Sci Res Essays 9:13–18. https:// doi. org/

10. 5897/ sre20 13. 5773

Nehvi FA (2010) Forthcoming challenges for improving saﬀron farm-

ing systems in Kashmir. Acta Hortic 850:281–286. https:// doi.

org/ 10. 17660/ ActaH ortic. 2010. 850. 48

Nehvi FA, Makhdoomi MI (2007) Importance of irrigation in saﬀron

production. Indian Farm 59:15–16

Nehvi FA, Ghani MY, Dar SA, Allaie BA (2008) Saﬀron production

technology. In: Nehvi FA, Wani SA (eds) Saﬀron Prod. Jammu

Kashmir, Dir. Ext. Educ. SKUAST-K, India, pp 114–141

Ohba T, Ishisaka M, Tsujii S, Tsuruma K, Shimazawa M, Kubo K,

Umigai N, Iwawaki T, Hara H (2016) Crocetin protects ultravio-

let A-induced oxidative stress and cell death in skin invitro and

invivo. Eur J Pharmacol 789:244–253. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j.

ejphar. 2016. 07. 036

Omidi H, Naghdibadi HA, Golzad A, Torabi H, Fotookian MH (2009)

Eﬀects of chemical and biological nitrogen fertilizers on quanti-

tative and qualitative yield of saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.). J Med

Plants 9:98–109

Papandreou MA, Kanakis CD, Polissiou MG, Efthimiopoulos S, Cor-

dopatis P, Margarity M, Lamari FN (2006) Inhibitory activity

on amyloid-β aggregation and antioxidant properties of Crocus

sativus stigmas extract and its crocin constituents. J Agric Food

Chem 54:8762–8768. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1021/ jf061 932a

Parizad S, Dizadji A, Habibi MK, Winter S, Kalantari S, Movi S, Lor-

enzo Tendero C, Alonso GL, Moratalla-Lopez N (2019) The

eﬀects of geographical origin and virus infection on the saﬀron

(Crocus sativus L.) quality. Food Chem 295:387–394. https:// doi.

org/ 10. 1016/j. foodc hem. 2019. 05. 116

Pazoki A, Kariminejad M, Targhi AF (2013) Eﬀect of planting patterns

on yield and some agronomical traits in saﬀron (Crocus sativus

L.) under diﬀerent irrigation intervals in Shahr-e-Rey Region. Int

J farm Allied Sci 2(S2):1363–1368

Petrakis EA, Polissiou MG (2017) Assessing saﬀron (Crocus sativus

L.) adulteration with plant-derived adulterants by diﬀuse reﬂec-

tance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy coupled with

chemometrics. Talanta 162:558–566. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j.

talan ta. 2016. 10. 072

Petrakis EA, Cagliani LR, Polissiou MG, Consonni R (2015) Evalu-

ation of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) adulteration with plant

adulterants by 1H NMR metabolite ﬁngerprinting. Food Chem

173:890–896. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. foodc hem. 2014. 10. 107

Pitsikas N (2016) Constituents of saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) as poten-

tial candidates for the treatment of anxiety disorders and schizo-

phrenia. Molecules 21:303–314. https:// doi. org/ 10. 3390/ molec

ules2 10303 03

Pitsikas N, Boultadakis A, Georgiadou G, Tarantilis PA, Sakellaridis

N (2008) Eﬀects of the active constituents of Crocus sativus L.,

crocins, in an animal model of anxiety. Phytomedicine 15:1135–

1139. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. phymed. 2008. 06. 005

Qadri B (2018) Examining saﬀron income and choice of marketing

channel connection. Agric Water Manag 7:25–30

Qibin L (2015) Method of planting saﬀron crocus in Tibet region.

China patent CN104584830A

Rahaiee S, Moini S, Hashemi M, Shojaosadati SA (2015) Evaluation

of antioxidant activities of bioactive compounds and various

extracts obtained from saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.): a review.

J Food Sci Technol 52:1881–1888. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/

s13197- 013- 1238-x

Rahimi H, Shokrpour M, Tabrizi Raeini L, Esfandiari E (2017) A

study on the eﬀects of environmental factors on vegetative

characteristics and corm yield of saﬀron (Crocus sativus). Iran

J Hortic Sci 48:45–52

Raja ASM, Pareek PK, Shakyawar DB, Wani SA, Nehvi FA, Soﬁ

AH (2012) Extraction of natural dye from saffron flower

waste and its application on pashmina fabric. Adv Appl Sci

Res 3:156–161

Razak SIA, Anwar Hamzah MS, Yee FC, Kadir MRA, Nayan NHM

(2017) A review on medicinal properties of saﬀron toward

major diseases. J Herbs Spices Med Plants 23:98–116. https://

doi. org/ 10. 1080/ 10496 475. 2016. 12725 22

Righi V, Parenti F, Tugnoli V, Schenetti L, Mucci A (2015) Crocus

sativus petals: waste or valuable resource? The answer of high-

resolution and high-resolution magic angle spinning nuclear

magnetic resonance. J Agric Food Chem 63:8439–8444.

https:// doi. org/ 10. 1021/ acs. jafc. 5b032 84

Salwee Y, Nehvi FA (2013) Saﬀron as a valuable spice: a compre-

hensive review. Afr J Agric Res 8:234–242

Samarghandian S, Borji A (2014) Anticarcinogenic eﬀect of saf-

fron (Crocus sativus L.) and its ingredients. Pharmacogn Res

6:99–107. https:// doi. org/ 10. 4103/ 0974- 8490. 128963

Samarghandian S, Borji A, Farahmand SK, Afshari R, Davoodi

S (2013) Crocus sativus L. (saﬀron) stigma aqueous extract

induces apoptosis in alveolar human lung cancer cells through

caspase-dependent pathways activation. Biomed Res Int

2013:1–12. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1155/ 2013/ 417928

Sameer SS, Bashir S, Nehvi FA, Iqbal AM, Naseer S, Nagoo SA, Dar

NA (2018) Eﬀect of biofertilizers, biological control agents

and soil amendments on the control of saﬀron corm rot (Crocus

sativus L.). Acta Hortic 1200:121–124

Sepaskhah ALIR, Kamgar HAA (2009) Saﬀron irrigation regime.

Int J Plant Prod 3:1–16. https:// www. sid. ir/ en/ Journ al/ ViewP

aper. aspx? ID= 175240

Serrano-Diaz J, Sanchez AM, Maggi L, Martinez-Tome M, Garcia-

Diz L, Murcia MA, Alonso GL (2012) Increasing the applica-

tions of Crocus sativus ﬂowers as natural antioxidants. J Food

Sci 77:1162–1168. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/j. 1750- 3841. 2012.

02926.x

Serrano-Diaz J, Sanchez AM, Martinez-Tome M, Winterhalter P,

Alonso GL (2014) Flavonoid determination in the quality con-

trol of ﬂoral bioresidues from Crocus sativus L. J Agric Food

Chem 62(14):3125–3133

Shahi T, Assadpour E, Jafari SM (2016) Main chemical compounds

and pharmacological activities of stigmas and tepals of ‘red

gold’; saﬀron. Trends Food Sci Technol 58:69–78. https:// doi.

org/ 10. 1016/j. tifs. 2016. 10. 010

Sharafzadeh S (2011) Saﬀron: a concise review of researches. Adv

Environ Biol 5:1617–1622

Shufeng L, Jingbin L, Yun G, Lei W, Hua L (2016) Portable saﬀron

harvesting machine. China patent CN102860176B

Siracusa L, Napoli EM, Ruberto G, Gresta F, Lombardo GM (2010)

Eﬀect of corms storage conditions on quantitative and quali-

tative traits of saﬀron: an agro-chemical study. Acta Hortic

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology

1 3

850:185–188. https:// doi. org/ 10. 17660/ ActaH ortic. 2010. 850.

Srivastava R, Ahmed H, Dixit RK, Dharamveer Saraf SA (2010)

Crocus sativus L.: a comprehensive review. Pharmacogn Rev

4:200–208. https:// doi. org/ 10. 4103/ 0973- 7847. 70919

Sudha JK, Patil AB, Aneesh SS, Bhise KS, Pradip BD, Sashikant

AD (2015) Method for extracting saﬀron crocus essential oil.

India patent IN2015MU01663A

Tammaro F (1990) Crocus sativus L.: environment, cultivation, mor-

phometric characteristics, active principles, uses. In: Tammaro

F, Marra L (eds) Proceedings of the international conference

on saﬀron, pp 47–57

Trigoso CI, Stockert JC (1995) Fluorescence of the natural dye saf-

fron: selective reaction with eosinophil leucocyte granules.

Histochem Cell Biol 104:75–77. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/

BF014 64789

United states department of agriculture (2020) Natural resources

conservation service. Classiﬁcation | USDA PLANTS. https://

plants. usda. gov/ java/ Class iﬁca tionS ervlet? source= displ ay&

class id= CROCU. Accessed 1 Jan 2021

Usan (2013) Cultivation method of saffron. China patent

CN103299795A

Varliklioz Er S, Eksi-Kocak H, Yetim H, Boyaci IH (2017) Novel

spectroscopic method for determination and quantiﬁcation

of saﬀron adulteration. Food Anal Methods 10:1547–1555.

https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s12161- 016- 0710-4

Wali, E., Datta, A., Shrestha, R. P., & Shrestha, S. (2016). Develop-

ment of a land suitability model for saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.)

cultivation in Khost Province of Afghanistan using GIS and

AHP techniques. Arch Agron Soil sci, 62(7), 921–934.

Wang Y, Sun J, Liu C, Fang C (2014) Protective eﬀects of crocetin

pretreatment on myocardial injury in an ischemia/reperfusion

rat model. Eur J Pharmacol 741:290–296. https:// doi. org/ 10.

1016/j. ejphar. 2014. 07. 052

Wei L (2013) Sinkiang saﬀron planting technology. China patent

CN101904267B

Xiaodong Q, Chong Y, Jiang Fengqin (2015) Method for cultivating

saﬀron buds. China patent CN103782790B

Yarami N, Sepaskhah AR (2015) Saﬀron response to irrigation water

salinity, cow manure and planting method. Agric Water Manag

150:57–66

Yasmin S, Nehvi F (2018) Phenological growth stages of Saﬀron

(Crocus sativus L.) under temperate conditions of Jammu and

Kashmir-India. Int J Curr Microbiol App Sci 7:3797–3814

Ye H, Wei Z, Yawen J, Yanhai C (2015) Saﬀron corms propagation

method. China patent CN104782368A

Yildirim MU, Asil H, Hajyzadeh M, Sarihan EO, Khawar KM (2017)

Eﬀect of changes in planting depths of saﬀron (Crocus sati-

vus L.) corms and determining their agronomic characteristics

under warm and temperate (Csa) climatic conditions of Turkish

province of Hatay. Acta Hortic 1184:47–53. https:// doi. org/ 10.

17660/ ActaH ortic. 2017. 1184.7

Zahmati R, Shekari HA, Fotokian MH (2018) Growth and develop-

ment of saﬀron (Crocus sativus L.) in response to temperature

pre-treatment and environmental conditions. J Biosci Biotech-

nol 7:47–50

Zare Hosseini H, Ghorbani R, Mohassel R, Hassan M, Rahimi H

(2014) Eﬀects of weed management strategies on weed den-

sity and biomass and saﬀron (Crocus sativus) yield. J Saﬀron

Agron Technol 2:45–58

Zeka K, Ruparelia KC, Continenza MA, Stagos D, Vegliò F, Arroo

RRJ (2015) Petals of Crocus sativus L. as a potential source of

the antioxidants crocin and kaempferol. Fitoterapia 107:128–

134. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. ﬁtote. 2015. 05. 014

Zhang A, Shen Y, Cen M, Hong X, Shao Q, Chen Y, Zheng B (2019)

Polysaccharide and crocin contents, and antioxidant activity of

saﬀron from diﬀerent origins. Ind Crops Prod 133:111–117.

https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. indcr op. 2019. 03. 009

Zhiming Z (2014) Saﬀron crocus planting method. China patent

CN103814734A

Ziying X, Qun L (2012) Saﬀron series of plant colorful hair dying

cream. China patent CN102078276

Ziyu Z (2014) Method for extracting saﬀron crocus essential oil. China

patent CN103805340A

Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to

jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional aﬃliations.

Phenological observations on the growth and development of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) in the conditions of the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

Article

Full-text available

May 2024

There is a need to summarise information using phenological models to develop a sustainable saffron production technology with further regulation of flowering at a certain phenological stage and determination of the appropriate flowering period to improve yield and quality under different environmental conditions. The purpose of the study is to establish the course of phenological phases of saffron growth and development in the conditions of the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. Phenological observations and biometric measurements were performed in the study. According to field observations, there are a total of 6 phenological stages of saffron development. The rest period lasts from the third ten days of May to October and is divided into primary and secondary dormancy. During the primary dormant period, corms do not show external morphological changes and growth, but internal physiological and morphogenetic changes occur. In the secondary dormant period, the initial emergence of leaves and flowers and their differentiation take place. During the dormant period, saffron plants were left without aboveground organs. The flowering period falls in October. The passage of this phenological stage may be affected by changes in environmental conditions or agricultural technology. The growth of the root system began with the appearance of flowers and leaves. During the growing season, the growth of the leaf apparatus and the development of the root system continue. During this period, daughter corms are also formed from the buds of the mother corm. During the winter, the replacement corms continue to grow using the nutrient reserves of the mother corm. In early March, the development of the root system slows down and the daughter corms reach almost the final size. At the end of the growing season, the root system of the mother corm stops growing. The leaves begin to age from the top to the base. By the end of May, the daughter corms are fully developed and are preparing for the transition to a dormant state. The number of corms produced per unit area depends on the age of the plot, nutrient supply, and the level of agricultural technology. Older fields produce more corms. Due to the higher density, a larger yield of stamens is formed. Therefore, understanding the phenological reactions and influence of climatic factors on the stages of saffron growth and development in certain soil and climatic conditions is useful for future forecasting of harvest time

Phytochemical characterization of callus cultures from the endangered plant Crocus scepusiensis (Rehm. & Woł.) Borbás ex Kulcz.

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2024
PLANT CELL TISS ORG

Crocus scepusiensis (Rehm. & Woł.) Borbás ex Kulcz., a critically endangered herbaceous plant which serves as a valuable source of bioactive compounds found across Europe and Asia. The aim of this study was to produce a calli from two different plant parts (leaf and shoot tip) for the critically endangered C. scepusiensis through tissue culture techniques, characterize the resulting calli through chemical profiling, with a focus on identifying key phytoconstituents, and lay the groundwork for future research on the biological activities of these calli extracts. Leaf disc and micro shoot tip explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various concentrations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) to induce organogenic calli. The resulting calli exhibited distinct biochemical profiles. Moreover, a phytochemical analysis was conducted to compare the metabolite composition of callus 1 (derived from leaf discs) and callus 2 (derived from shoot tips). Callus 1 displayed a higher total phenolic content (30.3558 ± 1.3564 mg (GAE)/g) compared to callus 2 (29.1543 ± 0.9754 mg (GAE)/g). Similarly, callus 1 exhibited a greater total flavonoid content (26.0089 ± 1.8029 mg (RE)/g) than callus 2 (18.4464 ± 1.4797 mg (RE)/g). Liquid chromatography-photodiode array-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-PDA-ESI-MS/MS) analysis revealed the presence of 26 and 25 constituents in callus 1 and 2, respectively. Fourteen and thirteen of these identified compounds have been previously reported in other Crocus species, with 22 constituents common to both calli. Twelve constituents were reported here in Crocus for the first time as far as we know.

Revealing the dynamics of saffron growth: Optimizing corm size and planting depth for increased yield synergies

Article

Full-text available

May 2024
PLOS ONE

Saffron, the "golden spice" derived from Crocus sativus L., is renowned for its richness in secondary metabolites such as crocin and safranal, contributing to its unique properties. Facing challenges like decreasing global production, optimizing cultivation techniques becomes imperative for enhanced yields. Although the impact of factors like planting density, planting depth, spacing, and corm size on saffron growth has been studied, the interaction between corm size and planting depth remains underexplored. This study systematically investigates the interactive effects of corm size and planting depth on saffron growth and yield, providing evidence-based guidelines for optimizing cultivation. A factorial experiment, employing a completely randomized design, was conducted to assess the influence of corm size (05-10g, 10.1-15g, 15.1-20g) and planting depth (10cm, 15cm, 20cm) on saffron yield. Uniform-sized corms were obtained, and a suitable soil mixture was prepared for cultivation. Morphological and agronomic parameters were measured, and statistical analyses were performed using ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD test. The study revealed that planting depth significantly affected saffron emergence. The corms sown under 15cm depth showed 100% emergence regardless of corm size (either 05-10g, 10.1-15g, 15.1-20g) followed by 10cm depth corms. Corm dry weight exhibited a complex interaction, where larger corms benefited from deeper planting, while intermediate-sized corms thrived at shallower depths. Similar patterns were observed in shoot fresh weight and dry weight. Specifically, the largest corm size (t3, 15.1-20g) produced the greatest fresh-weight biomass at the deepest planting depth of 20cm (T3), while intermediate-sized corms (t2, 10.1-15g) were superior at the shallowest 10cm depth (T1). The total plant biomass demonstrated that larger corms excelled in deeper planting, while intermediate-sized corms were optimal at moderate depths. This research highlights the intricate interplay between corm size and planting depth in influencing saffron growth. Larger corms generally promote higher biomass, but the interaction with planting depth is crucial. Understanding these dynamics can aid farmers in tailoring cultivation practices for optimal saffron yields. The study emphasizes the need for a coordinated approach to corm selection and depth placement, providing valuable insights for sustainable saffron production and economic growth.

An overview of spice production, promotion, and economic benefits in Malawi

Article

Apr 2024
J Crop Improv

The cultivation of spice crops in Malawi represents an underutilized opportunity to drive substantial economic growth. A variety of spice crops grown in Malawi include chilies, turmeric, ginger, pepper, coriander, masala, cardamom, paprika, and cinnamon. These are mainly sold locally, and the surplus is sold to the international markets in an unprocessed form. Spice production is limited due to a lack of suitable climate, improved seeds, poor soil fertility, prioritization of other crops, poor market infrastructure, poor market link, and lack of government support. Spices are not a priority for farmers in the country as they consider them unprofitable, but with prioritization, they can be a gateway to economic growth. Spices can be integrated into different cropping systems, especially in the organic farming system. This can provide a solution to the high demand for organically produced products which fetch premium prices. Malawi can increase spice production through proper research and development from seed development up to the consumer in the crop value chain. Spices can be processed into a variety of products primarily for flavoring or coloring food to improve palatability and taste. Mostly, local markets are flooded with imported packed and branded spices, while local spices are not. Thus, this needs action. Malawi has new potential markets from the neighboring countries, online platforms, processing, and packaging industries which need value-added processes such as processing, packaging, and branding. Good collaboration with other stakeholders will strongly strengthen the spices value chain in the country.

Natural compounds mitigate mycotoxins-induced neurotoxicity by modulating oxidative tonus: in vitro and in vivo insights - a review

Article

Feb 2024

This review explores the repercussions of mycotoxin contamination in food and feed, emphasising potential threats to agriculture, animal husbandry and public health. The primary objective is to make a comprehensive assessment of the neurotoxic consequences of mycotoxin exposure, an aspect less explored in current literature. Emphasis is placed on prominent mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, fumonisins, zearalenone (ZEA) and ochratoxins, known for inducing acute and chronic diseases such as liver damage, genetic mutation and cancer. To elucidate the effects, animal studies were conducted, revealing an association between mycotoxin exposure and neurological damage. This encompasses impairments in learning and memory, motor alterations, anxiety and depression. The underlying mechanisms involve oxidative stress, disrupting the balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant capacity. This oxidative stress is linked to neuronal damage, brain inflammation, neurochemical imbalance, and subsequent behavioural changes. The review underscores the need for preventive measures against mycotoxin exposure. While complete avoidance is ideal, exploration into the potential use of antioxidants as a viable solution is discussed, given the widespread contamination of many food products. Specifically, the protective role of natural compounds, such as polyphenols, is highlighted, showcasing their efficacy in mitigating mycotoxicosis in the central nervous system (CNS), as evidenced by findings in various animal models. In summary, countering mycotoxin-induced neurotoxicity requires a multifaceted approach. The identified natural compounds show promise, but their practical use hinges on factors like bioavailability, toxicity and understanding their mechanisms of action. Extensive research is crucial, considering the diverse responses to different mycotoxins and neurological conditions. Successful implementation relies on factors such as the specific mycotoxin(s) involved and achievable effective concentrations. Further research and clinical trials are imperative to establish the safety and efficacy of these compounds in practical applications.

Energy, Environmental, and Economic Sustainability of Saffron Cultivation: Insights from the First European (Italian) Case Study

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2024

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) stands as a valuable agricultural commodity, witnessing an increasing market inclination toward environmentally sustainable and eco-friendly products. The current literature on the environmental impact and profitability of saffron cultivation is limited, underscoring a notable gap in comprehending the sustainability aspects of this crop. This study utilized a comprehensive multi-model approach to assess the sustainability of annual saffron cultivation, representing the first global detailed evaluation, conducted within a European context (Southern Italy). Energy analysis, physical and monetized life cycle assessment (LCA), and life cycle costing (LCC) were used for a cradle-to-farm gate assessment. One hectare of cultivated saffron, one saffron production yield (stigma, corm, and flower), and 1 kg of stigma yield were used as functional units. The total energy input was 65,073 MJ ha−1, being 33% direct, 67% indirect, 72% renewable, and 28% non-renewable. The majority (55%) of energy is derived from corm production. For 1 kg of saffron the energy efficiency, specific energy, and productivity were 2.98, 4.64 MJ kg⁻1, and 0.22 kg MJ⁻1, respectively, while these values dropped significantly for 1 kg of stigma. The multi-indicator LCA analysis using the ReCiPe 2016 model revealed significant contributions to various environmental impact categories. Results align with prior research, pinpointing fertilization and mechanical operations as the primary drivers of diverse environmental impacts. A noticeable carbon intensity was estimated, with a relevant contribution from corm production and human labor, aspects overlooked in previous LCA studies. Saffron cultivation maintains economic viability, with production costs at EUR 98,435 per ha⁻1 and a net return margin of EUR 172,680 per ha⁻1, bolstered by the high market price and by-product revenue. Monetization of LCA results revealed that external costs were EUR 15,509 per ha⁻1, being only 14% of the total cost. Investments in improving yield and resource efficiency have the potential to increase the eco-efficiency of saffron cultivation.

Molecular warfare between pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum R1 and host Crocus sativus L. unraveled by dual transcriptomics

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2024
PLANT CELL REP

Phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and plant–pathogen interaction pathways in saffron and cell wall degrading enzymes in Fusarium oxysporum R1 are key players involved in the interaction. Fusarium oxysporum causes corm rot in saffron (Crocus sativus L.), which is one of the most devastating fungal diseases impacting saffron yield globally. Though the corm rot agent and its symptoms are known widely, little is known about the defense mechanism of saffron in response to Fusarium oxysporum infection at molecular level. Therefore, the current study reports saffron–Fusarium oxysporum R1 (Fox R1) interaction at the molecular level using dual a transcriptomics approach. The results indicated the activation of various defense related pathways such as the mitogen activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK), plant-hormone signaling pathways, plant–pathogen interaction pathway, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway and PR protein synthesis in the host during the interaction. The activation of pathways is involved in the hypersensitive response, production of various secondary metabolites, strengthening of the host cell wall, systemic acquired resistance etc. Concurrently, in the pathogen, 60 genes reported to be linked to pathogenicity and virulence has been identified during the invasion. The expression of genes encoding plant cell wall degrading enzymes, various transcription factors and effector proteins indicated the strong pathogenicity of Fusarium oxysporum R1. Based on the results obtained, the putative molecular mechanism of the saffron–Fox R1 interaction was identified. As saffron is a male sterile plant, and can only be improved by genetic manipulation, this work will serve as a foundation for identifying genes that can be used to create saffron varieties, resistant to Fusarium oxysporum infection.

Biosynthesis of Biomolecules from Saffron as an Industrial Crop and Their Regulation, with Emphasis on the Chemistry, Extraction Methods, Identification Techniques, and Potential Applications in Human Health and Food: A Critical Comprehensive Review

Article

May 2024

Anti-obesity, phytochemical profiling and acute toxicity study of ethanolic extract of saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Article

Apr 2024

Maram B. Alhawarri

Mapping the Trends in Global Research Productivity and Conservation of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.): Insight from Bibliometric Analysis during 1950–2022

Article

Feb 2024

Production technology of saffron for enhancing productivity

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2018

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. Saffron is a perennial herbaceous plant attaining a height of 25 to 40 cm. The saffron known the world over as the 'Golden Condiment' because of its extreme high cash value and low volume. Saffron is widely used in food preparations especially Kashmiri 'Kehwa', fabric dying, medicinal drug, perfume and cosmetic industries. Saffron have medium feed value for ruminants and its value is less than alfalfa and more than cereal straw (Valizadeh, 1988). Saffron essentially contains three active ingredients such as crocin, picrocrocin and safranal which determines the intensity of colour, power of the flavour and strength of the aroma respectively. J&K is only state in the country which has the capability of producing this golden spice of the world. The total area recorded under saffron production was 5.707 thousand hectares with an annual production of 15.95 tonne and productivity of 2.8 kg/ha in 1997 which has reduced to 3.674 thousand hectares with an annual production of 9.6 tonne and having 2.61 kg/ha of productivity. The major constraints that limit its production and productivity is poor management of saffron cultivation, as it involves inadequate plant population, incidence of corm rot disease, nutrient depletion, lack of irrigation facilities, inadequate post-harvest handling, processing and marketing as well as adulteration in quality saffron. Turhan et. al. (2007) stated that the effect of different growing medias namely field soil+ sand, field soil+ sand+ cow manure, field soil+ sand+ manure applied as double layer above and bottom of corm bed and field soil+ sand+ manure+ nitfojips-K on most of the characters were significant but cow manure mixtures especially with double layers had a positive effect on the flower and stigma weight. Cavusoglu et. al. (2009) reported that the big size corm dimension (10-24 mm) has a great impact than small size corm dimension (25-40 mm) on fresh or dry saffron yield and to extend harvest period under greenhouse condition. Yau and Nimah (2004) found that the spacing had a large effect on flower production on the basis of per unit area and the ratio of actual flower production for low to medium to high density was 1:2:4. Unal and Cavusoglu (2005) found that the highest values of fresh and dry saffron weight were obtained from the application of urea fertilizer while the lowest values of fresh and dry saffron weight were obtained from ammonium sulphate fertilizer. Nehvi et al. (2010) revealed that the application of FYM at 350 kg/ha in combination with N: P: K at 30:20:15 kg/ ha recorded maximum saffron yield averaged over 3 years (4.350 kg ha-1) showing an increase of above 91% over the control plots. Wani (2004) suggested that the inoculation with nematodes and pathogenic fungus either separately or simultaneously significantly affected the disease development and the saffron yield. It is shown that the growing medium was one of the important factors for saffron flower production. In conclusion, the good management practices are recommended to enhance the productivity of saffron.

Saffron: Chemical Composition and Neuroprotective Activity

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2020
MOLECULES

Crocus sativus L. belongs to the Iridaceae family and it is commonly known as saffron. The different cultures together with the geoclimatic characteristics of the territory determine a different chemical composition that characterizes the final product. This is why a complete knowledge of this product is fundamental, from which more than 150 chemical compounds have been extracted from, but only about one third of them have been identified. The chemical composition of saffron has been studied in relation to its efficacy in coping with neurodegenerative retinal diseases. Accordingly, experimental results provide evidence of a strict correlation between chemical composition and neuroprotective capacity. We found that saffron’s ability to cope with retinal neurodegeneration is related to: (1) the presence of specific crocins and (2) the contribution of other saffron components. We summarize previous evidence and provide original data showing that results obtained both “in vivo” and “in vitro” lead to the same conclusion.

Post Harvest Management, Processing and Value Addition of Rice

Chapter

Full-text available

Jan 2020

Mrityunjay Ghosh

Rice is a major staple food of more than half of global population. It is consumed in different forms like table rice, parched rice (mudi), puffed rice (khai), flattened rice (chuda), etc. along with several preparations. The mature paddy crop in the field undergoes several operations in sequence (harvesting, threshing, drying, parboiling, milling, value-adding processing, etc.) before human consumption. Although manual harvesting is a common practice in Asian and African countries, while combine harvester is mostly used in developed nations. Paddy grain needs to be dried to 12-14% moisture either by sun or mechanical drying for safe storage and milling. Paddy grains are stored at three levels: rural storage at producers level, medium storage at traders or millers level, and bulk storage at government level. The basic principle of parboiling includes soaking of paddy, steaming of soaked paddy and drying of steamed paddy. Milling of paddy has been developed from indigenous method to modern rice mill, which improves the milling quality and saves both, time and labour. The byproducts of rice mill are husk, bran and broken rice, where husk is used as boiler fuel and bran for extraction of oil. Cooking of rice varies in types, methods and time. Rice kernel expands lengthwise as well as in volume during cooking, and aromatic rice emits pleasant flavour.

Effects of different drying methods on appearance, microstructure, bioactive compounds and aroma compounds of saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2019
LWT-FOOD SCI TECHNOL

In our study, saffron stigmas were subjected to vacuum drying (VD), microwave drying (MD), oven drying (OD), infrared drying (ID) and freeze drying (FD), respectively. Quality attributed of the dried samples were compared in terms of appearance color, microstructure, bioactive compounds and aroma compounds. Results showed that FD, ID and MD were the better drying methods to preserve bioactive or aroma compounds, respectively. Meanwhile, FD retained good appearance color, complete initial cell structure and intact pollen grains, ID led to shortest drying time (0.7 h). However, FD time was the longest (47 h), in addition, the cost and energy consumption of FD and ID were relatively high. Therefore, considering about energy consumption and the quality of saffron, MD might be the most suitable method for both keeping content of crocins and aroma components, and its drying time was short (1.9 h).

Post Harvest Technology, Processing and Value Addition of Makhana

Article

Full-text available

May 2019

Arghya Mani

0% Makhana is scientifically known as Euryale ferox and it belong to the family of Euryalaceae. Makhana is very popular in Northern part of Bihar, North Bengal, Assam and other north eastern states of India. Makhana is profitably cultivated in water a body which does not have huge current or water velocities. It is cultivated in ponds, lakes, tanks and other aquatic bodies. Makhana have potential to be a very profitable crop for farmers and increase the income of the people where it is grown. This article would highlight the important post harvest operations, processing aspect and value addition of makhana. Maturity Indice: Makhana is matured when the colour of the seed is dark black. Generally this stage is achieved in the month of September-November. The seeds are matured after 30-42 days of flowering. Upon maturity the fruits get ruptured and the floppy seeds usually float in the surface water. After floating for 2-3 days, the floppy nature of the seeds is not there and hence the seeds settle down at the bottom of the pond and the field. A yield of 1.4-3.5 tonnes/ha is obtained.

Effects of corm size and plant density on Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) yield and its components

Article

Jan 2015

Examining Saffron Income and Choice of Marketing Channel Connection

Article

May 2018

Binish Qadri

The study identified the marketing channels involved in the marketing of saffron and revealed grower preference to various marketing channels. Furthermore, it found that the choice of marketing channel depends on income of the saffron grower. The primary data was collected from the respondents (201 saffron growers, 6 dalals and local traders, 17, retailers/wholesalers and 5 firms) in the three selected villages of Pampore namely Letpora, Ledhu and Konibal based on interview schedule framed in accordance with the objectives of the study. Proportional sampling framework was followed for selecting the respondents of the study. The chi-square test for association has been used to find the relationship between two categorical variables which in case of present study is income and channel.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.), the king of spices: An overview

Article

Oct 2020
SCI HORTIC-AMSTERDAM

Saffron is obtained from the dried red stigmas of Crocus sativus L., an autumnal herbaceous flowering plant belonging to the Iridaceae family. It is largely cultivated in Iran, India, Afghanistan, Greece, Morocco, Spain and Italy. Saffron global production is estimated at 418 t y⁻¹ on 121,338 ha. It is known as the most expensive spice in the world and as beneficial for human health due to three main bioactive compounds: crocin, picrocrocin and safranal. The demand for saffron is increasing worldwide for its interesting role in cuisine, medicine and cosmetics. Due to the reduction of its production, recent investigations have been conducted to study how to improve stigma yield, quality and antioxidant activity by selecting of corm geographical origin and climatic conditions, using biostimulants such as mycorrhizal fungi as well as choosing irrigation regimes, drying methods and storage processes. New research activities have been focused on the medicinal properties of this spice, such as its neuroprotection in the context of ocular disease, free radical scavenging and detoxifying capacities. This work offers an overview of the historical, economic, genetic, botanical, agronomic and qualitative traits of saffron as well as the properties, traditional and recent uses of the spice as well as its by-products such as tepals, stamens, styles, corms and leaves.

Effect of Nitrogen Chemical and Biological Fertilizer on Quantitative and Qualitative Yield of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Article

Feb 2020

He Omidi

Biofertilizers in sustainable agriculture are considered as an alternative to chemical fertilizers and increase Soil fertility and plant growth. Therefore, the effect of biofertilizers on important medicinal plants such as saffron should be evaluated. Objective: To determine the effect of chemical and biological fertilizers on the quantitative and qualitative yield of saffron. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in 2006-2008 in Absard, Iran. Urea fertilizer was administered at the rate of (n 3 replications and four fertilizer treatments. Fertilizer treatments including control or no fertilizer application (1 And treatment with urea chemical fertilizer (nitroxin biofertilizer at 5 liters per hectare) (3, 150 n / kg (2 They were. (n 2 liters per hectare) / 75 kg / ha and nitroxin biological fertilizer 5 Results: Fertilizer treatments on stigma length and fresh cream, leaf length, leaf number, corm weight, stigma and cream yield, picrocin content, However, the maximum yield of stigma and cream in treatment 2 (p <0 / saffron and saffron crocin had a significant effect on dash bottom (01). Combined Nitrogen treatment (75 kg ha-1) and Nitroxin biofertilizer (N 150 kg ha-1) and 4) It increased about 83% yield (n 2 liters per hectare), but 5 kg nitroxin per hectare (0.3%). Nitroxin (5 kg / ha) was the best treatment for picrocin and (n) stigma and cream compared to the control. Treatment 3 It was safer. Also, the highest amount of crocin in the 75 kg ha-1 nitrogen treatment and nitroxin biofertilizer. Was obtained. 2 liters per hectare Conclusion: With application of bio-chemical fertilizers, saffron yield increased and its quality increased. Also with fertilizer consumption Bio-Nitroxin can reduce the use of N fertilizer which is a move towards sustainable agriculture and reduction It is a biological pollution. Vocabulary: Saffron, Nitrogen, Yield, Biofertilizer, Safranal, Crocin, Picrocrocin

Investigating the use of different levels of Mycorrhiza and Vermicompost on quantitative and qualitative yield of saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Article

Dec 2019
SCI HORTIC-AMSTERDAM

In order to investigate saffron (Crocus sativus. L) stigma, flower and leaf quantitative and qualitative characteristics under the effect of different vermicompost and mycorrhiza levels, researchers conducted a factorial experiment in the completely randomized design with three replications in the research farm of the agricultural faculty of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in 2017–2018. The investigated factors included vermicompost in four levels (0, 8000, 16,000 and 24,000 kg ha⁻¹) and inoculation with mycorrhiza in four levels (0, 7.5, 10 and 15 g for every planting location) (in every planting location two corms with the same weight (7.5 ± 0.5 g) were planted). Results indicated significant effect of vermicompost on the leaf area and dry weight, crocin and picrocrocin in both years. Likewise, leaf dry weight and leaf area were significantly affected by mycorrhiza in both years. The interaction effect of vermicompost fertilizer and mycorrhiza was significant on the traits of leaf components comprising: leaf area in the first year and flower number, chlorophyll ‘a’, ‘b’ and total chlorophyll in the second year. Results also indicated that the maximum number of the saffron flower in the first year was obtained from the treatment of 24,000 kg ha⁻¹ vermicompost (3.23 flowers per square meter) and 10 g mycorrhiza fertilizer treatment for every planting location (3.45 flowers per square meter). The maximum number of the saffron flower in the second year was obtained from the treatment of 24,000 kg ha⁻¹ vermicompost (77.25 flowers per square meter) and 10 g mycorrhiza fertilizer treatment for every planting location (84.41 flowers per square meter). Also using 10 g mycorrhiza for every planting location in the second year enhanced the stigmas dry yield by 46.21 % compared with the control. Likewise, 10 g mycorrhiza for every planting location enhanced the dry weight of one-plant leaves by 137.5 % compared with the control. On the same way, the application of 24,000 kg ha⁻¹ enhanced the leaf dry weight by 41.66 % compared with the control. Totally, the mycorrhiza inoculation in the level of 10 g for every planting location along with vermicompost fertilizer application by 24,000 kg ha⁻¹ significantly increased saffron traits especially quantitative characteristics. By using 10 g mycorrhiza for each planting place (5 cm × 5 cm) in the second year, the saffron stigma yield was 3.498 kg per hectare in this treatment, which revealed 46.21 % increase compared with the control.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.): gold of the spices—a comprehensive review

Abstract and Figures

Recommended publications

SAFFRON (CROCUS SATIVUS L.): A POTENTIAL HIGH VALUE CROP FOR HILLY AREAS

Crocus sativus L. Flower’s Valorization as Sources of Bioactive Compounds

SAFFRON (CROCUS SATIVUS L.): A POTENTIAL HIGH VALUE CROP FOR HILLY AREAS

TARİHSEL SÜREÇTE SAFRAN (Crocus sativus L.) VE SAFRANIN GÜNÜMÜZDEKİ DURUMU