Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) cultivation under organic regime in Sikkim Himalaya and prevalence of conditions conducive for corm multiplication

Abstract

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most expensive spices that is used globally for diverse medicinal, culinary and cosmetic purposes. Among the saffron producing countries, Iran ranks first whereas India produces only a fraction that is restricted exclusively to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The demand for saffron far exceeds its production in India necessitating the augmentation of saffron cultivation area involving suitable locations particularly in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). We explored the possibility of saffron cultivation under organic regime in the Eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim by conducting two-year cultivation trials at nine locations namely, Khamdong, Okhrey, Hilley, Khecheopalri, Yoksum, Pangthang, Dzongu, Phadamchen and Kyongnosla. The findings revealed the prevalence of edaphic and climatic conditions to support all developmental stages of saffron cultivation with location-specific differences. The major observations include (i) occurrence of first-year flowering of corms procured from Kashmir followed by robust vegetative growth at all the stated locations, (ii) effective multiplication and development of daughter corms, a crucially important event in saffron growth cycle, at all locations and (iii) occurrence of second-year flowering on new corms developed in Sikkim at five locations. The phytochemical marker components (crocin, safranal, picrocrocin) measured for saffron from certain locations corresponded to Grade 1 as per the norms adopted by the India International Kashmir Saffron Trading Centre (IIKSTC), Pampore, Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Taken together, the findings indicate the suitability of Sikkim Himalaya for saffron corm multiplication and commercial cultivation under complete organic regime and consequently hold significance for the farmers welfare at large.

Keywords: Trichoderma; Chemical markers; Corm multiplication; Organic regime; Saffron; Sikkim Himalaya.

Fig. 1

Map of Sikkim (India) showing saffron cultivation locations at different elevations (Generated through ArcGIS version 10.4 software).

Fig. 2

Physico-chemical properties [(a) pH, (b) EC, (c) Organic carbon, (d) Nitrogen, (e) P₂O₅, (f) K₂O, (g) Bulk density, (h) Particle density, (i) Porosity] of soil sampled from different locations, n = 3 ± SE. L1 (Khamdong); L2 (Okhrey); L3 (Hilley); L4 (Khecheopalri); L5 (Yuksom); L6 (Pangthang); L7 (Dzongu); L8 (Phadamchen); L9 (Kyongnosla); L10 (Pampore, Kashmir).

Fig. 3

Showing diverse events of saffron cultivation under complete organic regime in Sikkim Himalaya: (A) Corms procured from Kashmir (September, 2021), (B) Planting of corms on raised beds (October, 2021), (C) Flowering (November, 2021), (D) Multiplication of mother corms after flowering (November, 2021–April, 2022), (E) Mature corms (June-July 2022) (F) Flowering from the in situ multiplied corms (October- November, 2022) (G) Whole flowers, (H) Separated stigmas, (I) Dried saffron stigma. The photographs included in Fig. 3 were taken by the co-authors of this paper: Laxuman Sharma (A), Arun Chettri (B,C), Santosh K. Rai (D,E), Reshav Subba (F,G) and Rajesh Kumar (H,I).