Analysis of flower phenology, flowering and stigma performance of saffron as a result of indirect treatment with DBD surface plasma under salt stress.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is cultivated in environments with very different climatic conditions and with very different corm rates from place to place, and it is appreciated for its red dried stigmas used as cooking spice and flavoring agent. To enhance the flower morphological and colorimetric traits under environmental stresses, the applications of non-thermal plasma based techniques are increasingly being investigated in the field of agricultural science as an alternative to conventional pre-germination treatments. Therefore, a field study was conducted to compare four levels P1 (no treatment), P2 (5 minute treatment), P3 (10 minute treatment), P4 (20 minute) and the salinity stress factors in three levels were 2, 4 and 6 dS.m^-1 according a factorial design with 3 replications. Flowering beginning in saffron seems to be influenced by the combination of plasma and salinity stress. High concentration of salinity (6 dS.m^-1) resulted in a lower flower and stigma production. The highest number of leaf per plant was found when corms treated to P4 and 2 dS.m^-1 6 salinity stress condition. Exposure of saffron corn to plasma treatments of 20 minutes showed the most stimulating effect regarding the flower phenology and stigmas yield in saffron under salinity stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]