The Improvement of Postharvest Longevity of Cut Alstroemeria ‘Konst Coco’ Flowers by a Combination of Mechanical and Chemical Methods

The interactive effect of mechanical methods (stem-end splitting) and chemical methods (silver nanoparticles) was studied on the vase life and biochemical characteristics of cut Alstroemeria cv. ‘Konst Coco’ flowers in a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with 10 treatments, 3 replications, 30 plots, and 150 flowers. The experimental treatments included longitudinal stem-end split at two levels (no split and a 5-cm split) and silver nanoparticles (SNP) at five levels (0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 mg L^-1). The results showed that the interaction of the experimental treatments was statistically significant for all recorded traits. Based on the results, the longest vase life (13.88 days) was obtained from the application of “5 cm split × 20 mg L^-1 SNP”, showing a 6.83 day increase versus the control. The treatment of “5 cm split × 20 mg L^-1 SNP” recorded the highest water uptake (2.03 ml g^-1 F.W.), dry matter (14.11%), total chlorophyll (2.432 mg g^-1 F.W.), and petal carotenoid (2.307 μg g^-1 F.W.) and the lowest fresh weight loss (1.34 g), stem-end and vase solution bacteria (3 Log10 CFU mL^-1), ethylene synthesis (0.807 nl l^-1 h^-1 g^-1 F.W.), electrolyte leakage (6.04 %), MDA (12.53 nmol g^-1 F.W. min^-1), SOD activity (12.64 IU g^-1 F.W. min^-1), and POD activity (0.009 nmol g-1 F.W. min-1), so it was the best treatment in preserving vase life and biochemical properties of the cut Alstroemeria ‘Konst Coco’ flowers.