The Effect of Eucalyptus and Rosa damascena Essences with Sucrose on Vase Life and Physiological Characteristics of Cut Gerbera cv. ‘Alain Ducasse’

Gerbera cut flowers is one of the important and popular cut flowers in the world that regardless of increasing production of this plant in Iran, the duration of its life is short due to rapid wilting petals and bending neck of flower. To increase vase life of gerbera cut flowers cv. ‘Alain Ducasse’, the essences of Eucalyptus and Rosa damascena, the combination of these two essences at a concentration of 200 mg L-1 with 4% sucrose and only 4% sucrose were used as treatment and distilled water was used as control treatment. In current study, the characters of vase life, wet weight, total soluble solids, solution uptake and bent neck were examined. Maximum and minimum of vase life were achieved in Eucalyptus essence treatment (12.33 days) and control (7 days), respectively. Although, Rosa damascena essence and its combination with Eucalyptus essence also increased the vase life. The maximum fresh weight and solution uptake was obtained treated with Eucalyptus oil. The maximum fresh weight and absorption of solution were obtained in treatment with Eucalyptus essence. The maximum amount of soluble solids was obtained in the treatment of sucrose. In addition, control treatment has the maximum bent neck. The overall results showed that the use of Eucalyptus and Rosa damascena essence in combination with sucrose can be used as a preservative solution of gerbera cut flowers.