Postharvest quality and extending vase life of Narcissus tazetta flowers by sucrose

Abstract

Narcissus tazetta L., which belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family, has many nice and fragrant flowers appearing as bunch on a leafless peduncle. They grow naturally in the Black Sea region of Turkey, and are used as local cut flowers. However, there is no detailed postharvest study on these beautiful delicate flowers. Therefore, we investigated the postharvest physiology and the possibility of extending the vase life longevity of this natural species. The bulbs obtained from Ordu were grown in a greenhouse at Ondokuz Mayis University in Samsun. Flowers were harvested in February and March. Vase life, relative fresh weight (RFW) and water uptake (WU) during vase life were determined daily in a standard vase life evaluation room. The vase life was determined as the time to wilting of all open florets. Our results show that a vase solution composed of 2% sucrose and 300 µL L-1 hydroxyquinoline citrate (8-HQC) significantly increased the WU and maintained the RFW of the flowers at high values compared to control flowers kept in 8-HQC or in NaOCl. Consequently, this vase solution extended the vase life of cut Narcissus tazetta L. flowers from six to nine days. These results suggest that bunch flowered Narcissus tazetta L. have a commercial potential as cut flowers. © 2019 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.