Investigation of the chemical composition of saffron growing in different geographical locations

The world's most expensive spice saffron is grown in different parts of the world . The chemical properties of the saffron plant in different places vary.In this thesis the chemical composition of saffron were studied depending on geographic region of plants.The analysis of saffron which were grown in Safranbolu (Turkey) and Khorasan (Iran), showed different results, by applying measurement of moisture and volatile components, total ash, and ash which was insoluble in acid of saffrons and characterization with UV-Vis spectophotometricaly. The moisture content of Turkish and Iranian saffrons were 6.48 % and 5.92 % respectively. The amount of total ash of Turkish and Iranian saffrons were found to be 6.85 % and 6.10 %, respectively. The amount of ash which was insoluble in acid were found to be 0.66 % and 0.50 % for Turkish and Iranian saffrons. According to the results, the absorbans values of picrocrocine, saffranal and crocin that equivalent to 1% value were found to be 61.20, 34.08 and 162.12 for Turkish saffron. On the other hand, the absorbans values of picrocrocine, saffranal and crocin were found to be 71, 43.81 and 196.56 for Iranian saffran. Finally, it can be said that the main reason is the effectiveness of growth and climate conditions. Additionally, the effect of fertilization and bud size are important for saffron farming. Key words: Saffron, Chemistry of saffron, History of saffron