Abstract:
Little information is available about Soil Quality
(SQ) in Iran, especially in saffron
[
Crocus sativus (
L.)
Iridaceae
]
fields. The objectives of this research were to: (i
) Establish
a Minimum Data Set (MDS) for quantifying soil quali
ty in saffron fields; (ii) Evaluate soil
quality status using two indices of Integrated Qual
ity Index (IQI) and Nemoro Quality
Index (NQI), and (iii) Investigate the relationship
between soil quality and the economics
of saffron production. Thirty soil samples were col
lected from the Ghayen area of South
Khorasan, Iran, and analyzed for soil physical and
chemical properties. Principal
Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify a Min
imum Data Set (MDS)
consisting of
sand, Relative Field Capacity (RFC), zinc,
SAR
, Ca, CaCO
3
, Fe and Bulk Density (BD).
Soil Quality was evaluated
using the
IQI
and the
NQI
for both the Total Data Set (TDS),
and
MDS
. Four SQ indices i.e.,
IQI
TDS
, IQI
MDS
, NQI
TDS
, and
NQI
MDS
were used to evaluate
soil quality in
saffron fields in the study area. A significant cor
relation (P< 0.05) was
shown between the
IQI
TDS
(r= 0.44),
NQI
TDS
(r= 0.41) and economic yield of saffron.
Correlation analysis indicated that the
IQI
TDS
performed better compared to the
NQI
TDS
for evaluating the soil quality. Use of the
TDS
with the
IQI
index was the most effective
approach for evaluating SQ in saffron fields.
Keywords:
Economic yield, Integrated quality index, Minimum
data set, Nemoro quality index
