Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) holds a high economic value as the world's most expensive spice. It plays a crucial role in many small farm economies in countries such as Iran, India, Afghanistan, Greece, Morocco, Spain, and Italy. In this project the effects of three different corm size (10 ,9 , and 8 ) on saffron stigma’s yield were studied in hoop house and open field production systems in a randomized complete block design with three replications at Certified Organic Farm of the Sustainable Agriculture Science Center of New Mexico State University in Alcalde located in north central New Mexico. Saffron corms were planted 6 to 8 inches in depth and 6 inches apart on September 19, 2023. The saffron flowers were harvested from October 18th until November 6th, 2023, in different treatments. Flowering started earlier and the flowering period was longer in plots planted with bigger corms. Saffron flowers picked up in the morning and then the stigmas were separated and dehydrated at 100 °C for ten minutes. The first-year results showed that the highest number of flowers were obtained from 10 corm size plots. The highest yield of dehydrated stigmas was also harvested from 10 corm size in high tunnel production system with 3.43 Kg/ha (3.06 lbs./acre). The bigger corms of saffron produced significantly higher stigma yield than smaller ones; 2.84 kg/ha (2.53 lbs./acre) for 10 corms vs 0.89 kg/ha (0.79 lbs./acre) for 8 corms, however, the difference between saffron yield in high tunnel and open field production systems was not significant. In summary the outcome of this research shows that saffron can be produced successfully even in open field production system in northern New Mexico and using bigger corms for planting may produce higher saffron in the first year, although the evaluation of winter hardiness and the following years performance will be necessary.
