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Abstract
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Freesia is one of the most important cut flowers in flower industry. Extending the vase life of freesia flower is, thus, very important. Recent work indicates that the use of nano silver particles (because of a high area/volume ratio) shows antimicrobial effects and has been proven as a beneficial agent in preservative solutions of several cut flowers. Hence, the effects of different concentrations of nano silver particles in the vase water (5, 10 and 15 ppm) combined with 3% sucrose on cut freesia vase life were studied. Distilled water was used as a control. Measurements included the water uptake, number of opened buds, petal membrane stability index, lipid peroxidation and vase life. Results showed a positive effect of nano silver on cut freesia flower vase life. Flowers placed in 10 ppm nano silver and 3% sucrose had the longest vase life, as compared to controls having a vase life of 5 days. The number of opened florets of that treatment was also improved, as compared to the control. Petal membrane stability index decreased during vase life, but no effect of nano silver was noted. The 10 ppm nano silver combined with 3% sucrose showed the highest flower fresh weight. Lipid peroxidation, measured by malonedialehide production, increased during vase life, being very slow in flowers treated with nano silver particles as compared to the controls. Totally, it can be concluded that using of 10 ppm nano silver combined with 3% sucrose in vase solution of freesia flowers was the best treatment in preserving the best quality of cut freesia flowers.
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