Potential low cost treatments for extending the vase life of anthurium (Anthurium andreanum lind) flowers

Abstract

Flowers, being viable and actively metabolizing parts of plants, are subject to ageing processes and thus are perishable commodities. In order to meet the requirement for export market of cut-flowers it is necessary to prolong the vase-life while maintaining quality. Specific anti- ethylene compounds, which are expensive, are presently being used to break the ageing process. An investigation was therefore carried out to extend the vaselife of cut-flower Anthurium gndregnum. using inexpensive treatments in comparison with conventional methods. The flowers were treated with different concentrations of antiethylene compounds, such as AgNO, silver thiosulfate (STS), benzyl amino purine (BAP), KMn04 , glycerine and hot water. Distilled water treatment was used as the control. The longest vase-life lasting 14 days was obtained with 2 mg t' KMnO+ This was followed by STS (12.87days), 10 mg t' BAP (12.43 days), 5 mg t1 BAP( 12.37 days) and 1000 mg t' AgN03 (12.25 days). Hot water and 15 mg t' BAP did not significantly affect the vase-life. Flowers treated with different glycerine concentrations showed the lowest- vase-life compared to the control. The cost analysis revealed that the KMn04 treatment is the cheapest method. Moreover, amongst conventional treatments, AgNO3, BAP and STS at tested concentrations were not found to be cost effective.