EFFECT OF DIFFERENT POLYFILMS AND STORAGE TEMPERATURES ON POSTHARVEST QUALITY OF GERBERA (GERBERA JAMESONII) CV. ‘SAVANA RED '

Abstract

The study was carried out to find the effect of different packaging films viz., PP (24μ), HDPE (28μ), LDPE (112μ) and control(without any packaging) and storage temperature viz., 5°C, 10°C and 15°C for a period of 7 days on flower quality and vase life of gerbera cut flowers cv. Savana Red. PP packaged gerbera cut flowers stored at lower temperature at 5ºC showed significantly negligible physiological loss in weight just after storage, maintained maximum water uptake (119.33 ml) and higher retention of fresh weight during vase life after storage as compared to all other treatments. Petal TSS(10.90°Brix) and MSI (87.48%) were also recorded higher in PP packaged cold stored gerbera (5ºC) which delayed the petal senescence and exhibited enhanced vase life (8.33 days) as compared to without packaged cold stored gerbera cut flowers. Flower quality in terms of flower diameter(10.57 cm), percent opening of disc florets(13.33%), absence of scape bending curvature as well as overall quality graded on visual basis were also higher in gerbera cut flowers stored at (50C) with PP packaging