Saffron Crop (Golden Crop) in Modern Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is an autumnal flowering plant valued for dried stigmas are well known for their aromatic and colouring power. It possesses a number of medicinally important activities and helpful in controlling various diseases. Saffron has a reverse biological cycle compared with the majority of cultivated plants: flowering first in October-November, then vegetative development until May, which means that the vegetative development is not directly important for the production of stigmas, but for the production of new corms. Due to its unique biological, physiological and agronomic traits, saffron is able to exploit marginal land and to be included in low-input cropping systems, representing an important and alternative viable crop for sustainable agriculture. The main biological, genetic, ecological and quality traits associated with agronomic management techniques of saffron in relation to environmental conditions have been described in this paper. The essential features on which the quality of saffron depends are colour, taste and aroma of the stigma. The quality of saffron, mainly from a chemical point of view, will be discussed.