Streptomycin as alternative postharvest treatment to prolong vase life of gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii L.) cut flowers.

Background: Cut flowers rapidly decline in quality and shorten their vase life after harvest. Various post-harvest methods are being sought to extend their vase life. This study investigated the effects of different storage environments and Streptomycin treatments on postharvest quality and vase life of gerbera flowers. For pre-water absorption treatments, harvested gerbera flowers were all treated with silver thiosulfate (STS 0.2 mM) under room conditions for 6 h. Then, Streptomycin treatments were used alone and combined with sugar at different concentrations in 3 different environments. Their different storage environments were used under room conditions after being kept in STS for 6 h (1st environment), under room conditions after being kept at 2 °C in cold storage for 48 h (2nd environment), storage in cold storage at 2 °C until vase life expires (3rd environment). Vase solution Streptomycin concentrations were 0 (control), 200, 400, and 600 ppm alone, combined with 5% sugar. The experiments were conducted in a completely randomised design (CRD) with three replications and three cut flowers were used in each replication.

Results: Streptomycin yielded the best outcomes for vase life especially when it was combined with sugar, increasing the vase life as compared to the control. Compared to the control treatments, with streptomycin treatments, the greatest increase in vase life was observed in 600 ppm Streptomycin + 5% Sugar treatments of the 1st environment (67.5%) (8.22-13.77 days). When the treatments were compared, the longest vase life (13.77 days) was obtained in 600 ppm Streptomycin + 5% Sugar treatment in the 1st environment, the longest vase life (16.67 days) was obtained in 200 ppm Streptomycin + 5% Sugar treatment in the 2nd environment and the longest vase life (73.50 days) was obtained in 600 ppm Streptomycin + 5% Sugar treatment in the 3rd environment. When the environments were compared, the longest vase life (59.17 days) was obtained in the 3rd environment.

Conclusions: As a result of this study, it was determined that the use of Streptomycin in combination with sugar gave better results compared to the control group. Streptomycin concentration of 600 ppm is recommended for extending the vase life of cut flowers and this combination may be an alternative and effective method. A streptomycin concentration of 600 ppm at room conditions and 200 ppm at low temperatures such as cold storage is appropriate.