Response of Cut Rose Flowers to Relative Humidity and Recut During Postharvest Life

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the response of different originated (the same mother plants with different growers from different cities in Ethiopia) cut rose flowers to various relative humidity (RH) and recut (recut and non-recut). Three different experiments (E1, E2 and E3) using three RH (60, 75 and 90%) and three Ethiopian growing areas (Fleur, Liki and Longonot) with 10 replications were designed. Cut rose flowers from three growing area were recut to 5 cm and placed in 60, 75 and 90% RH as a commercial supply chain. Rose flowers without any recut were selected as control. Mean comparison in three experiments revealed that by increasing storage time in cold room, flower vase life significantly decreased. 75% RH produced the highest flower vase life compared to 60 and 90% RHs. However, mean comparisons showed that cut rose flowers originated from Liki growers significantly had the highest vase life compared to others which followed by Longonot and Fleur ones. The results revealed that 5 cm cut the end of flower stem significantly increased flower vase life compared to control. Mean comparison of bacterial populations in commercial supplies of the three experiments, declared the highest amount of bacteria in E1 than the other experiments. Cut rose flowers originated from Liki growers had the highest bacterial populations at the bottom part of the stem compared to the other growers. The results also showed that the end part of stems contain more bacterial agent compared to upper parts.

Keywords:

Bacteria , Cold room , Growers , vase life