The vase life and quality of cut Gerbera jamesonii cv. 'Rosalin' flowers are affected by natural essential oils (in normal and nano forms) and nano-silver particles

Abstract

Gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii, Asteraceae) is an important commercial cut-flower crop. A prominent problem of gerbera cut flowers is short vase life, mostly due to neck bending. This study aimed to screen the effects of the essential oils of thyme, clove and caraway, in addition to nano-silver particles, on vase life and on some parameters of gerbera cv. ‘Rosalin’ cut flowers. A factorial experiment was carried out with essential oils as the first factor (in the normal form at 25 and 50 mg/L), nano-silver as the second factor (at 5 and 10 mg/L), and distilled water as control. The measured traits were: vase solution uptake, relative fresh weight, flower vase life, neck bending, the enzyme activity of polyphenol oxidase and catalase, anthocyanin pigment and phenols. Results indicated that essential oils have significantly affected vase life and vase solution uptake positively and reduced neck bending, where the most effective treatments were caraway and clove oils in the normal form at 50 mg/L and 25 mg/L, respectively. Similarly, a significant increase was observed in catalase. In contrast, nano-silver particles had an insignificant effect on neck bending but a significant effect on vase life and vase solution uptake was detected.