Postharvest longevity of cut gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex. Hook) cv. RCGH28 as affected by citric acid pulse and vase solutions

Abstract

The present investigation entitled ‚Postharvest longevity of cut gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii Bolus ex. Hook) cv. RCGH-28 as affected by citric acid pulse and vase solutions‛ was carried out at the ICAR Research Centre for NEH Region, Umiam during 2021-2022. The experiment was set up as Completely Randomised Design (CRD) including 7 (seven) treatments combinations, replicated thrice with five cuttings per replication. Uniform stems of gerbera at goose-neck stage were pulsed in 6 (six) different pulsing solutions. Pulsing treatments comprised of sucrose (3%) in combination with different levels of citric acid (100,200 and 300 mg L-1 ). Distilled water without any chemical served as control. After pulsing, gerbera cuttings were transferred into different vases containing distilled water for assessment of their various post-harvest attributes. Effects of citric acid as biocide on pulsing solution and its impact on vase life, water relation, increase in fresh weight, petal ion leakage and other physiological parameters such as chlorophyll degradation and anthocyanin concentrations were experimented. Results indicated that pulsing of gerbera stem cuttings in 5 % Sucrose + Citric acid (300 mg L1 ) for 6 hours helped in improving the flower turgidity, membrane integrity and vase life as compared to control. Increased pulsing duration positively improved the post-harvest quality of gerbera.