Effect of Absorbent Granules Coated by Potassium Permanganate on Postharvest Quality of Rose (Rosa hybrida) Cultivars

Enrichment of zeolite and sponge as ethylene absorbent with potassium permanganate was theidea of this study to provide an efficient way to scavenge ethylene during storage period ofthree Rosa hybrida cv. ‘Shiraz’, ‘Avalanche’, and ‘After-party’ cut flowers. A preliminaryexperiment revealed that two mL of potassium permanganate solution (1 mM) was enough toenrich two grams of zeolite and two cm3 of sponge. Additionally, one μL L-1 of externalethylene also found to be effective on induction of quality damage to certain cut flowers ofrose cultivars, which were selected for injection in each isolated container for furtherevaluations. The treatments used in this study included control (without absorbent), enrichedzeolite or sponge, enriched zeolite or sponge + ethylene (one μL L-1). The quality of flowers,weight, number of dropped petals, electrical conductivity of vase solution, ethyleneconcentration in the container and petal anthocyanins evaluated through/the end ofexperiment. Results revealed that change or reduction in the quality parameters were minor(more maintenance or stability of quality was achieved) with enriched zeolite and thenenriched sponge compared to the control. Enriched zeolite could even maintain the quality ofcut flowers at the level of control under external ethylene injection superior to enrichedsponge treatment. ‘Avalanche’ and ‘Shiraz’ cultivars figured as the most sensitive andresistant cultivars to the evaluated level of external ethylene concentration, respectively.

Keywords:

Ethylene Sensitivity , Cut flower Transportation , postharvest quality , superabsorbent , vase life