postharvest life of cut gerbera (gerbera jamesonii) as affected by nano-silver particles and calcium chloride

the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of nano-silver (ns), calcium chloride (cacl2) and their combinations on gerbera jamesonii ‘carambole’ cut flowers. the experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design (crd) with 10 treatments and four replications, with three flowers in each replication. treatments consisted of 5 mg l-1 ns, 1% and 2% cacl2, 5 mg l-1 ns+ 1% cacl2, 5 mg l-1 ns + 2% cacl2, 0.1% and 0.2% cacl2, 5 mg l-1 ns + 0.1% cacl2, 5 mg l-1 ns + 0.2% cacl2 and a control. it was revealed that cacl2 postharvest spray, ns in a vase solution, as well as their combinations could significantly increase the vase life of gerbera flowers. the longest postharvest life of treated flowers was obtained from 5 mg l-1 ns and 5 mg l-1 ns + 1% cacl2 treatments. the highest solution uptake was observed in 5 mg l-1 ns, 5 mg l-1 ns + 2% cacl2 and 5 mg l-1 ns +1% cacl2 treatments. furthermore, application of ns and cacl2 resulted in a reduced loss of relative fresh weight. the application of cacl2 alone was able to increase all mentioned traits; however, this increase was less than 5 mg l-1 ns, 5 mg l-1 ns + 1% cacl2 and 5 mg l-1 ns + 2% cacl2 treatments. additionally, in vitro cultivation and microscopic counting of microorganisms showed that microorganism growth at the end of flowering stems had been largely restricted by using ns solely or in combination with cacl2.