Influence of some pre and post-harvest practices on quality of saffron stigmata

•Organic production system improved saffron quality.•Oven-dried stigmas at 55 °C had proper quality.•Stigma storage over one year reduced stigma apocarotenoids content.•Deficit-irrigation, humic acid and mycorrhizal inoculation improved stigma quality.•Correlation of color parameters with stigma apocarotenoids content was acceptable.