Prolonging the Vase Life of Cut Carnation L. cv. Reina by Using Different Preservative Solutions

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1 Bulletin UASVM Horticulture, 67(1)/2010 Print ISSN ; Electronic ISSN Prolonging the Vase Life of Cut Carnation L. cv. Reina by Using Different Preservative Solutions Orsolya FEIGEL-TEREK 1), Daniel BERECICI 2), Julia CNYI 1), Erzsebet JAMBOR-BENCZUR 1) 1) Department of Floriculture and Dendrology, Faculty of Horticultural Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, Villányi Street 1118, Budapest, Hungary; 2) University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 119 Calea Aradului Street, Timisoara, Romania; Abstract. The effect of salicylic acid and other compounds on carnation cultivar Reina was studied in the case of different concentrations. The treatments were the followings: distilled water (DW) as a control solution, 10 gl -1 Spring, DW + 1,5 and 2 mll -1 Clorox, DW + 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 200, 250 and 500 mgl -1 salicylic acid. As for SPAD values best result was achieved in the Spring and 250 mgl -1 salicylic acid solution. The highest diameter of flowers was obtained by using 125 and 250 mgl -1 salicylic acid solution. Similar results were measured in the case of 2 mll -1 Clorox and 50 mgl -1 salicylic acid solution too. The condition (state) of flowers was the best at the treatment of 125 mgl -1 solution with 3.9 value. The longest vase life (11.1 day) was observed in the case of 125 mgl -1 salicylic acid solution. In this treatment the vase life was prolonged by 2.4 days. As regards the calculated ornamental values, the following result could be concluded: 125 mgl -1 salicylic acid solution with points. As a final conclusion of the experiment it can confirmed, that with the use of 125 mgl -1 salicylic acid the vase life was significantly extended. Keywords: vase-life, chlorophyll, sucrose, salicylic acid, Clorox INTRODUCTION Carnation is one of the most important cut flower nowadays as well. Therefore it is important to ensure the longest vase life of the flowers. Various factors influence the postharvest performance and the vase life of cut flowers (Ichimura et al., 2002; Mayak et al., 1974). It is influenced by genetics, the growing conditions and flower handling (Pizano, 2009) carbohydrate content, blockage of xylem vessels, ethylene, the composition of the atmosphere, and the chemical solutions of the preservatives. XiaoLi et al. (2007) studied the effect of salicylic acid on cut flowers, and found that the preservative containing salicylic acid reduced the respiration rate and ethylene evolution, delayed the occurrence of respiration and ethylene peaks, and retarded chlorophyll degradation in leaves, hereby prolonged the vase life and longevity of individual flowers. Petridou et al. (1999) have demonstrated in their experiments that salicylic acid failed to reduce bacterial counts in the holding solutions, and the high concentrations of the substance caused stem bending and stem base damage. In our experiments we wanted to ensure the longest possible vase life for cut carnation, and next to it was important to study the effect of different concentrations of salicylic acid. 349

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS For the experiment were used cut flowers of Dianthus caryophyllus L. cv. Reina. The carnations were obtained directly from a commercial grower in Hungary. The flowers are yellow with pink lines. The experiment was carried out in the laboratory of Department of Floriculture and Dendrology, Faculty of Horticultural Sciences, Corvinus University of Budapest during April Lower leaves were taken off and the flowering stems were trimmed to a uniform length of 45 cm. Each treatment had 3 replications of 10 flowers. The treatments are shown in Table 1. The distilled water was used for solving every solution, and it was the control solution too. We used Spring and Floralife as well, because they are widely used in the floral industry for prolonging the vase life of cut flowers. The experiment was started on 15 April and were evaluated on every 3 rd and 4 th days. The condition and the diameter of the flowers, the chlorophyll content were measured. The data were fixed it into a Microsoft Excel table and the evaluation was made with the help of graphs. We created a scale from 1 to 5 to describe the change of the visual rating of carnation cut flowers, when: 5 = totally intact flower, 4 = beginning, palpable withering, 3 = visible withering, 2 = intense withering, 1 = flower died away. In the case of vase lifetime when the flowers reach stage 3 were considered to be eliminated, because their ornamental value was lost by this time. For the exact describing of the ornamental value a new method was worked out which includes all the examined features. We determined the importance of the features: chlorophyll content (CH), diameter of flowers (DF) state of the flowers (SF), vase life (VL). The ornamental value (OV) was calculated with the next formula in points: OV= 1 x CH + 2 x DF + 3 x SF + 4 x VL The chlorophyll examinations were carried out with a Konica Minolta SPADchlorophyll meter, 502 types, and the photographs were taken with a digital camera. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION As for SPAD values we did not found significant differences until the 7 th day. In the case of Spring and 250 mgl -1 salicylic acid solution were measured average highest values (77.3 and 77.4). At the following evaluation the leaves of flowers which were placed in a solution of 500 mgl -1 salicylic acid had less values then other solutions (Fig. 1). The diameter of flowers is important from the view of ornamental value. The values decreased fluently. In the control solution, of Clorox and Spring the flowers hardly opened, but this was not significant compared to the other solutions. The highest values (10 cm) were measured in the 125, 150 and 200 mgl -1 salicylic acid solutions. On the 11 th day the best treatment solution was for 125 mgl -1 salicylic acid (Fig. 2). As for the state of flowers there was a little difference among the treatments on the 4 th day. On the 7 th days significant differences could be found. The best treatment in this respect was the 125 mgl -1 solution with 3.9 value. (Fig. 3-5). The longest vase life (11.1 day) was achieved in case of 125 mgl -1 treatment, followed by the 200 mgl -1 treatment. The shorter vase life (8.3 day) was found in the case of using 2 mll -1 Clorox solution. In the control solution the vase life proved to be only 8.7 days (Tab. 1). The calculated data of ornamental value is shown in Table 1. The highest value (141.9) was obtained in case of the 125 mgl -1 salicylic acid solution. Tab. 1. Treatments of the experiment, the vase life and the ornamental value of the flowers 350

3 Treatments Vase life Ornamental value Distilled water (control) 8.7 b gl -1 Spring 8.4 b gl -1 Floralife 8.4 b Distilled water + 2 mll -1 Clorox 8.3 b Distilled water + 10 mgl -1 salicylic acid 8.4 b Distilled water + 25 mgl -1 salicylic acid 10.0 ab Distilled water + 50 mgl -1 salicylic acid 8.9 ab Distilled water + 75 mgl -1 salicylic acid 9.8 ab Distilled water mgl -1 salicylic acid 9.7 ab Distilled water mgl -1 salicylic acid 11.1 a Distilled water mgl -1 salicylic acid 9.6 ab Distilled water mgl -1 salicylic acid 10.6 a Distilled water mgl -1 salicylic acid 9.5 ab Distilled water mgl -1 salicylic acid 8.9 b Note: Means followed by different letters differ significantly for each other according to Duncan multiple range test at P = SPAD values ,9 76,6 77,3 75,2 76,8 76,4 76,2 76,5 75,1 77,2 75,0 74,5 77,6 75,2 77,4 75,3 73,3 75,1 73,5 73,2 73,3 73,7 73,3 73,6 72,0 70,4 71,3 73,5 71,7 73,2 73,1 73,1 70,0 70,7 69,7 70,6 70,3 71,1 70,5 69,4 68,4 69,3 68,8 66,0 66, control 1,5 ml 2 ml Spring Floralife 10 mg 25 mg 50 mg 75 mg 100 mg 125 mg 150 mg 200 mg 250 mg 500 mg Fig. 1. The effect of chemical treatments on the chlorophyll content of carnation cut flowers during the experiment. 351

4 Average of diameter of flowers (cm) 9,0 7,0 6,0 5,0 4,0 3,0 2,0 1,0 0,0 7,7 7,9 7,8 7,8 7,7 7,9 7,9 7,5 7,6 7,7 7,7 7,1 7,5 7,4 7,4 7,4 6,8 6,8 7,1 6,6 6,7 7,1 6,6 6,4 6,5 7,0 6,4 6,3 6,3 5,8 5,9 5,6 5,0 5,1 5,2 5,1 4,5 4,6 4,5 4,6 control 1,5 ml 2 ml Spring Floralife 10 mg 25 mg 50 mg 75 mg 100 mg 125 mg 150 mg 200 mg 250 mg 500 mg Fig. 2. The effect of chemical treatments on the flower diameter of carnation cut flowers during the experiment 5 State of the flower ,4 3,4 1,5 1,4 3,2 3,3 3,2 3,2 1,2 1,3 1,3 1,4 3,6 2,1 3,0 1,7 3,6 3,6 2,1 2,2 3,9 2,7 3,6 2,0 3,7 3,6 2,5 1,9 3,2 1,5 1 0 control 1,5 ml 2 ml Spring Floralife 10 mg 25 mg 50 mg 75 mg 100 mg 125 mg 150 mg 200 mg 250 mg 500 mg Fig. 3. The effect of chemical treatments on the state of carnation cut flowers during the experiment Fig. 4. The effect of 125 mgl -1 salicylic acid on carnation flowers at the 11 th day of experiment 352

5 Fig. 5. The flowers in the control solution at the 11 th day of experiment CONCLUSIONS It can be concluded, that the salicylic acid is suitable to increase the vase life and the ornamental value of flowers. The vase life was prolonged by 2,4 days when the 125 mgl -1 salicylic acid treatment was used compared to the control. The ornamental value is a very important fact, and it is mainly determined by the opening of the flowers, the vase life, state of the flowers and the colour of the leaves. In summary, the best treatment was the 125 mgl -1 salicylic acid, in which the flowers remained open, preserving their ornamental value for longer periods and this was accompanied by the leaves maintaining their green colour. Acknowledgments. We would like to express our thanks for the support of Csányi Kertészet (Szeged), for supplying the flower material of the experiments. REFERENCES 1. Ichimura, K., Y. Kawabata, M. Kishimoto, R. Goto and K. Yamada (2002). Variation with the cultivar in the vase life of cut rose flowers. Bulletin of the National Institute of Floricultural Science 2: Mayak, S., A. H. Halevy, S. Sagie, A. Bar-Yoseph and B. Bravdo (1974). The water balance of cut rose flowers. Physiol. Plant. 31: Petridou, M., C. Voyiatzi and D. Voyiatzis (1999). AspirinReg., methanol and some antibacterial compounds prolong the vase life of cut carnations. Advances in Horticultural Science. 13: 4, Pizano, M. (2009). Research shows the way for post-harvest treatment roses. Flower Tech 12. (6); XiaoLi, P., R. JingPing, Z. YanLong. (2007). Effect of exogenous salicylic acid on vase life of cut flowers of Prato lily and related physiological influence. Acta Horticulturae Sinica. 34: 1,