Vegetos

Abstract

Heritage site of Pampore continues to grow Kashmir saffron (Crocus sativus L.) since 500 B.C. Study on structural variations for corm, flower and leaf attributing traits revealed non heritable nature of variations existing for tepal number, stigma number and tepal colour, suggesting that chances of somatic recombination at the time of division of corm can give rise to variants found in the natural population. Wide range of variations existed for sprout number, cataphyll length, root number, flower weight, stigma length and leaf number. Structural variations in the mother corm directly contributed to saffron biology of Kashmir saffron. Study confirmed that saffron cultivated in Kashmir is triploid in nature and confirms to biology of saffron being cultivated elsewhere in world, confirming that saffron exists as a natural sub population without any major structural variation.