Increasing the Vase Life of Cut Gerbera cv. Sazo by Essential Oils

Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii) cut flower has magnificent economical value in international cut flower industry. Due to sensitivity to ethylene and microbial growth in preservatives، it has a short vase life. In order to assess the effects of essential oils (thymol، menthol and eugenol) on quality and vase-life of cut flower of gerbera، an experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design. The cut flowers of gerbera were treated with thymol (75 and 125 mg/L)، menthol (75 and 125 mg L-1) and eugenol (50 and 100 mg L-1) along with control (distilled water) treatment. Essential oils were applied as long-term treatment. Sucrose (4%) was added to all preservative solutions of experimental units. All treated cut flowers were stored at 25±2 º C and RH of 50-55%. The results indicated that the highest vase-life was obtained in thymol 125 mg L-1 (8/91 day) followed by menthol 75 mg L-1 (9/08 day) and eugenol 50 mg L-1 (8/99 day) compared to control (7/49 day). Among all treatments، thymol and menthol increased preservative solution uptake، stem and flower diameter and decreased preservative pH and microorganism growth. Thus، these essential oils are suggested as the best treatment based on the results obtained in this study.