tIn arid and semi-arid regions of Iran, drought and water management are considered as important chal-lenges in developing sustainable agriculture. The effects of irrigation levels and dense corm planting onflower yield, daughter corms behavior and phosphorus uptake of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) were studiedas two-year field experiment based on a randomized complete blocks design arranged in split-plot withthree replications at Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, during 2012–2013 and2013–2014 growing seasons. The irrigation levels including 50, 75 and 100% of saffron water require-ment (SWR) and dense corm planting (50, 100, 200 and 300 corm m−2) were allocated to the main andsub-plots, respectively. The lowest yield, minimum number of daughter corms and phosphorus contentof saffron were observed by planting 50 corms m−2and supplying 50% of SWR. In the first year, flowercharacteristics were not affected by irrigating at 50% of SWR. However, in the second year, flower num-ber, fresh flower and dry stigma yields significantly decreased by irrigating at 50% of SWR compared with75 or 100% of SWR. In the second year, phosphorous concentration (g kg−1) and content (g m2) in small(0.1–4 g), medium (4.1–8 g) and large (over 8 g) daughter corms were significantly more than the firstyear. In general, small daughter corms contained less phosphorous compared with large (over 8 g) corms.

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