Effect of Wall Colors and Nanosilver Treatment on the Vase Life of Cut Carnation "Express"

Carnation is an important traded crop in many countries. Postharvest senescence is a major limitation to the marketing of many species of cut flowers and considerable effort has been devoted to developing postharvest treatments to extend the marketing period. The split-plot experiment was executed based on two factors randomized complete block design with three replications to examine the effect of reflected light from the stain walls in vase life room and various concentrations of nanosilver on the longevity of cut carnation "Express". The first factor included four colors of walls (red, brown, blue, and white) and the second factor was in three different concentrations of nanosilver (0, 5 and 10 mg/l). Some traits such as vase life, °Brix, flower opening, population of bacteria in solution, water uptake, reduced dry weight, chlorophyll index, weight loss and content of anthocyanins was measured. The results showed that the color of wall has significant effect on vase life, °Brix, water uptake, flower opening, and content of petal anthocyanins (P < 0.05). Simple effect of different concentrations of nanosilver was significant on the water uptake, °Brix, population of bacteria in solution and content of petal anthocyanins (P < 0.05). Effect of factors interaction was significant on the content of petal anthocyanins and vase life. Best result was obtained under white walls with 5 mg/l nanosilver. Based on the results, the cold colors including white are better than warm colors for increasing vase life of cut carnation "Express".