PROLONGING THE MARKETING PERIOD OF ROSE PLANTS THROUGH WAXING AND COLD STORAGE

Abstract

Roses (Rosa hybrida, cv. Eiffel Tower) grafted onto R. canina were lifted on 1st Feb. 2006 and 2007. The bare – rooted one year old roses were treated with hot paraffin wax or polyethylene emulsion, packaged with polyethylene pags and later with cardbord poxes and placed in cold storage at 0˚C, RH95%. After 4, 8, 12 or 16 weeks in cold storage the bare – rooted roses were planted in pots containing clay +sand 2:1 under saran house. Plants were tested for water loss, survival plants, and numbers of buds, number of flowers and stem length. Also carbohydrates concentration were measured in rose plants in the different storage periods. Paraffin wax treated plants lost the minimum amount of water than polyethylene emulsion and control plants in all cold storage periods respectively. Also, 100% of paraffin wax treated plants developed till flowering in all cold storage periods, while 45.8% of polyethylene emulsion treated plans and 58.9% of control plants were developed only during the two seasons. The biggest number of buds, and flowers and stem length were significantly recorded in paraffin wax treated plants than control and polyethylene emulsion treated plants respectively. There were slight differences between all treatments concerning carbohydrates concentrations as well as in different storage periods.