Diyako Azizi - Faculty of Agriculture Department of Miaad University Mahabad, Iran

One of the main problems of cut flowers is low flowers longevity and as a result high postharvest losses. Recently various cultivars of cut gerbera according to their from, color, yield and vase life are producing by researchers and international breeder companies and are cultivating commercially word wide; nevertheless because of various climates and different conditions of growers all over the world, produced cultivars don’t have a unique and suitable morpho-physiological reactions and quantity and quality indexes. The experiment was performed to evaluate performance and postharvest quality of four important and commercial cut gerbera cultivars ‘Stanza’, ‘Shimmer’, ‘Peak Elegance’ and ‘Tropic Blend’ in soilless greenhouse conditions for six months in completely randomized design with three replications. Based on the results, yield and flower longevity, inflorescence disc diameter, stomatal conductance and flower stem height were affected significantly by cultivar (p<1010). Accordingly maximum and minimum flower vase life was observed in ‘Peak Elegance’ and ‘Shimmer’ respectively. Also maximum stomatal conductance and ‘Stanza’ for its high flower quality and longevity. Overall with considering high variety of gerbera cultivars and based on the results, screening of cultivars based on various climates and existing management in greenhouse is an effective step to identify and select superior varieties and as a result decreasing postharvest losses and increasing efficiency.

gerbera cultivars, greenhouse, postharvest, yield