EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT CUTTING METHODS AND TIMES OFCUTTING ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND GUM RESINPRODUCTION OF FERULA ASSA-FOETIDA

Ferula assa-foetida L. is an important industrial and medicinalplant of Iran which is mainly distributed in arid and semi-arid areas ofKhorasan province in north east of the country. Gum of this plant is widelyused in pharmacological industry. This plant is endangered because of moreharvesting and unsustainable harvesting methods. The objective of this studywas to evaluate the effects of different cutting methods (conventional, cut ofcrown part, concave and surface) and times of cutting (5, 10 and 13 times) ongum yield of this species in its wild habitat in Mazar region in Bajistan. Thetreatments were studied under a factorial experiment which was arranged in acompletely randomized design with three replications. Results showedsignificant differences among cutting methods and times of harvesting. Yield ofgum was affected by times of harvesting and the highest yield was obtained in10 cutting times. The highest and lowest gum yields were obtained in concavemethod with 10 cutting times (25.24 g/plant) and superficial method with 5cutting times (2.02 g/plant), respectively. Results showed that conventionalcutting method destroys crown buds, which causes death of the plant. Thehighest gum yields and the best plant regeneration rates were obtained by usingof concave method with 10 cutting times.