Water Productivity and Economic Analysis of Saffron Under Different Irrigation Water Salinity, Manure Application Rates and Planting Methods

The objective of the present study was to identify whether the investment in the in-furrow planting and higher application of cattle manure under irrigation water salinity condition for saffron planting is cost-effective or not. A split–split plot arrangement was conducted in complete randomized block design with irrigation water salinity levels (0.45 (fresh water, S 1 ), 1.0 (S 2 ), 2.0 (S 3 ) and 3.0 (S 4 ) dS m −1 ) as the main plot, cattle manure levels (30 (F 1 ) and 60 (F 2 ) Mg ha −1 ) as the sub plot and planting method (basin (P 1 ) and in-furrow (P 2 )) as the sub–sub plot in three replications. Results showed that we can reach more than two-fold higher water productivity (WP) in the in-furrow planting method compared with the basin planting method. Also, application of higher cattle manure (F 2 treatment) resulted in higher WP in higher salinity levels (i.e., S 3 and S 4 treatments).According to the net income (NI),economic water use efficiency (EWUE) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) analysis, the production benefit of the in-furrow planting method was higher than the production cost compared with the basin method even in the first year of the planting; whereas, it was not economically feasible for basin planting method. The highest NI for the in-furrow planting method was obtained 372 × 10 6 Rls ha −1 that was about 3.5 times of the highest NI (12 × 10 6 Rls ha −1 ) for the basin planting method in the second year. The economic analysis results led to conclude that planting the saffron corms in furrow was found to be suitable for producing high saffron yield and consequently NI and EWUE even under high irrigation salinity levels. Therefore, it is worthwhile to change conventional basin planting method into the in-furrow planting for saffron production to achieve the higher WP and economic efficiency.