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Available online at www.notulaebiologicae.r o
Not Sci Biol, 2013, 5(3): 364-370Print ISSN 2067-3205; Electronic 2067-3264 Notulae Scientia Biologicae
Improving the Keeping Quality and V ase Life of Cut Alstroemeria
Flowers by Pre and Post-harvest Salicylic Acid T reatments
Elnaz SOLEIMANY -FARD1*, Khodayar HEMMATI2, Ahmad KHALIGHI1
1Department of Horticulture Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,
T ehran, Iran; [anonimizat] (* corresponding author)
2Department of Horticulture Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran
Abstract
Keeping quality and length of vase life are important factors for evaluation of cut flowers quality, for both domestic and export
markets. Studding the effect of pre- and post-harvest salicylic acid applications on keeping quality and vase life of cut alstroemeria
flowers during vase period is the approach taken. Aqueous solutions of salicylic acid at 0.0 (with distilled water), 1, 2 and 3 mM were
sprayed to run-off (approximately 500 mL per plant), about two weeks before flowers harvest. The cut flowers were harvested in the early
morning and both of cut flowers treated (sprayed) and untreated were kept in vase solutions containing salicylic acid at 0.0 (with distilled
water), 1, 2 and 3 mM. Sucrose at 4% was added to all treatments as a base solution. The changes in relative fresh weight, water uptake,
water loss, water balance, total chlorophyll content and vase life were estimated during vase period. The results showed that the relative
fresh weight, water uptake, water balance, total chlorophyll content and vase life decreased significantly while the water loss increased
significantly during experiment for all treatments. A significant difference between salicylic acid and control treatments in all measured
parameters is observed. During vase period, the salicylic acid treatments maintained significantly a more favourable relative fresh weight,
water uptake, water balance, total chlorophyll content and supressed significantly water loss, as compared to control treatment. Also, the
results showed that the using salicylic acid increased significantly the vase life cut alstroemeria flowers, over control. The highest values of
measured parameters were found when plants were treated by pre + post-harvest application of salicylic acid at 3 mM. The result revealed
that the quality attributes and vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers were improved by the use of salicylic acid treatment.
Keywords: alstroemeria, properties, total chlorophyll, vase period, water relations
Introduction
Alstroemeria is a member of the Alstroemeriaceae fam –
ily and is one of the very important in global cut flowers
production. It is widely used as cut flowers because the
flowers are available in numerous colours like yellow, or –
ange, pink through scarlet to purple and violet (Norbaek
et al., 1996). Leaf yellowing associated with early senes –
cence is a major problem in alstroemeria, which may oc –
cur within a few days and proceeds very rapidly (Mutui et
al., 2001). Senescence of cut flowers may depend on many
factors such as; water stress (Sankat and Mujaffar, 1994),
carbohydrate depletion, microorganisms (Witte and V an
Doom, 1991) and ethylene effects (W u et al., 1991; Da
Silva, 2003).
Short postharvest vase life is one of the most impor –
tant problems on the cut flowers. The maintenance of vase
life is an important quality attribute in these economically
significant cut flowers. A suitable method for vase life ex –
tension, which easy to use, natural, safe and inexpensive
compounds is always crucial in this respect for large-scale
applications. A number of strategies have been used to
maintaining good quality and extending the vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers such as; treatments with silver thio –
sulphate (STS) (Nowak and Rudnicki, 1990), gibberellins
(GA) and cytokinins (CK) (Hicklenton, 1991; Jordi et al.,
1995; Mutui et al., 2003), accel (BA+GA4+7) (Mutui et al.,
2001) and thidiazuron (TDZ) (Ferrante et al., 2002).
Recently, there is an increasing interest in the use of
natural compounds for maintenance of cut flowers quality
and extension of vase life. Salicylic acid (SA), a widely dis –
tributed compound in plants, belongs to a group of phe –
nolic compounds. Salicylic acid could be considered as an
endogenous plant growth regulator involved in the regula –
tion of plant growth, development and disease resistance
mechanisms (Hayat et al., 2010; Luo et al., 2011). Also,
salicylic acid has been found to suppress ACC-oxidase ac –
tivity that is the direct precursor of ethylene and decrease
ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) with increasing antioxi –
dant enzyme activity (Ansari and Misra, 2007; Mba et al.,
2007; Mahdavian et al., 2007; Canakci, 2008; Kalidage,
2009). Numerous authors have reported the application of
salicylic acid at different concentration extended vase life
in cut flowers of rose (Zamani et al., 2011), gerbera and
lily (Kazemi et al., 2011 a and b), carnation (Kazemi and
Ameri, 2012) and chrysanthemum (V ahdati et al., 2012).
Received 27 May 2013; accepted 15 July 2013

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365
T otal chlorophyll
T otal chlorophyll content was determined (2 days in –
tervals) by chlorophyll meter (SPAD-502 Konica, Minol –
ta, T okyo), which is presented by SPAD values. Average of
3 measurements from different spots of a single leave was
considered (Kazemi and Ameri, 2012).
V ase life
V ase life was assessed as the number days to wilting of
flowers. The flowers were checked once a day for signs of
deterioration.
Experiment design and statistical analysis
This experiment was conducted according to facto –
rial based on completely randomized block design with
4 replicates and 3 samples (individual flowers) for each
replication. Data were analyzed by Statistical Analysis Sys –
tem (SAS) software V ersion 9.1 using analysis of variance
(ANOVA) and differences among means were determined
for significance at p < 0.05 using T ukey’s test.
Results and discussion
Relative fresh weight
As shown in Fig. 1, relative fresh weight increased
significantly during the first 4 days of experiment and
from this time until end of the experiment decreased sig –
nificantly. Similar patterns of changes were also reported
for cut rose flowers (Lu et al., 2010; Alaey et al., 2011).
A variation in terms of relative fresh weight was observed
among the treatments and the differences were statisti –
cally significant ( p < 0.05). The relative fresh weight was
affected by salicylic acid treatments, since control cut
flowers had significantly lower relative fresh weight during
experiment, while the highest levels were obtained with 3
mM salicylic acid treatment (Fig. 1). Kazemi and Ameri
(2012) showed that the treated cut gerbera flowers with
salicylic acid had the highest levels of relative fresh weight
during vase period. Also, the data indicates that among the
presently tested treatments, pre + post-harvest application
of salicylic acid is found to be more effective in increas –
ing relative fresh weight of cut alstroemeria flowers during
vase period than in the post-harvest application of salicylic
acid (Fig. 1).
The decrease in relative fresh weight of cut flowers dur –
ing the days of after harvest could be due to the decrease in
water uptake (Bieleski and Reid, 1992; Serek et al., 1995).
Alaey et al. (2011) reported that the highest relative fresh
weight of cut rose flowers was observed in vase solutions
which showed the greatest water uptake. In this experi –
ment, all treatments showed decreases in relative fresh
weight, although this decreases were significantly lower in
treatments of salicylic acid than in the control treatment.
This effect can be attributed to the acidifying and stress
alleviating properties of salicylic acid, thereby enhancing Salicylic acid treatment has the potential for main –
tenance of cut flowers quality and extension of vase life.
However, little information exists on the use of salicylic
acid on keeping quality and vase life improvement of cut
alstroemeria flowers. Therefore, the objective of this re –
search was to analyse and compare the effect of pre- and
post-harvest salicylic acid applications on keeping quality
and vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers during vase pe –
riod.
Materials and methods
Plant material and treatments
Alstroemeria (cv. ‘T ampa’) flowers were obtained from
local commercial greenhouses (Mashhad, Iran). Plants
were grown in under standard greenhouse conditions with
22 and 16°C day and night temperatures, respectively. So –
lutions of salicylic acid at 0.0 (with distilled water), 1, 2
and 3 mM were sprayed to run-off (approximately 500
mL per plant), about two weeks before flowers harvest.
The cut flowers were harvested in the early morning and
transported with appropriate cover (in plastic packages)
immediately to laboratory. Then cut flowers were re-cut
under water to 30 cm length. The both of cut flowers treat –
ed (sprayed) and untreated were placed in the glass vials
300 ml solutions containing salicylic acid at 0.0 (with dis –
tilled water), 1, 2 and 3 mM. Sucrose at 4% was added to
all treatments as a base solution. The flowers were kept in a
controlled room at 19±2°C, 70±5% relative humidity and
12 μmol m−2 s−1 light intensity (cool-white fluorescence
lamps) under a daily light period of 12 h. The period from
the first day (0 day) when cut flowers were placed in vase
solutions, until they lost their ornamental value were in –
vestigation traits.
Relative fresh weight, water uptake, water loss and water
balance
Relative fresh weight, water uptake, water loss and
water balance were recorded 2 days intervals by measur –
ing weights of vases without flowers and of flowers sepa –
rately (He et al., 2006). Relative fresh weight of stems
(flowers+leafy) was calculated as: relative fresh weight (%)
= (Wt/Wt−0) × 100; where, Wt is weight of stem (g) at t =
days 0, 2, 4, etc., and Wt−0 is weight of the same stem (g) at
t =day 0. W ater uptake was calculated as: water uptake (g
stem−1 day-1) = (St−1−St); where, St is weight of vase solu –
tion (g) at t = days 0, 2, 4, etc., and St−1 tis weight of vase
solution (g) on the previous day. W ater loss was calculated
as: water loss (g stem−1 day-1) = (Ct−1−Ct); where, Ct is the
combined weights of the cut stem and vase (g) at t = days
0, 2, 4, etc., and Ct−1 is the combined weights of the stem
and vase (g) on the previous day. W ater balance (g stem−1
day-1) was calculated as water uptake from the vase minus
water loss from the stem.

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366
water uptake and relative fresh weight of cut flowers (V ah –
dati et al., 2012).
W ater uptake
The results showed that the water uptake increased
significantly during the first 4 days of after harvest and
from this time until end of the experiment decreased sig –
nificantly (Fig. 2). The results were in agreement with the
findings reported by Lu et al . (2010) on cut rose flowers
(cv. ‘Movie Star’). Significant differences ( p < 0.05) were
revealed among the treatments for water uptake. The treat –
ments of salicylic acid showed significantly highest water
uptake than in the control treatment during experiment.
The higher the salicylic acid concentration applied, the
greater the improvement in water uptake, that highest
water uptake values were observed in 3 mM salicylic acid
treatment (Fig. 2). Similar results were also reported for
cut flowers of rose (Alaey et al., 2011; Zamani et al., 2011)
gerbera (Kazemi et al., 2011 a). In relation to water up –
take, pre + post-harvest salicylic acid application was more
effective on increasing water uptake of cut alstroemeria
flowers during experiment, as compared to application of
post-harvest salicylic acid (Fig. 2).Previous study had revealed that the pathogens affect
water uptake due to vascular blockage (V ahdati et al.,
2012). The decrease in water uptake of cut flowers during
vase period was probably due to growth of microbes and
vascular blockage. Anjum et al. (2001) suggested adding a
suitable germicide in vase solution can prevent the growth
of microbes and increased water uptake. During vase pe –
riod, the salicylic acid treatments maintained significantly
a more favourable water uptake than in the control treat –
ment. Salicylic acid can be decreased pH of vase solution
and consequently, the growth and proliferation of bacteria
was reduced, which led to increase water uptake (Raskin,
1992).
W ater loss
The water loss increased significantly during experi –
ment, that the water loss levels at the initial of the after
harvest were higher than the end ones just (Fig. 3). Our
results were in agreement is in agreement with Lu et al .
(2010) who reported that the water loss of cut rose flow –
ers increased significantly after harvest. As shown in Fig.
3, a significant variation in water loss was found among
the studied treatments. The lowest levels of water loss was
observed for 3 mM salicylic acid treatment during vase
Fig. 1. Effect of pre + post-harvest and post-harvest applications of different concentrations of salicylic acid on relative fresh weight
(% of initial) of cut alstroemeria flowers during vase period. The results represent the means of 12 cut flowers in 4 replicates ± stan –
dard errors
Fig. 2. Effect of pre + post-harvest and post-harvest applications of different concentrations of salicylic acid on water uptake (g
stem-1 day-1) of cut alstroemeria flowers during vase period. The results represent the means of 12 cut flowers in 4 replicates ± stan –
dard errors

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367
their effects on water balance levels. Among the studied
treatments, 3 mM salicylic acid treatment had the high –
est amount of water balance and control treatment had
the lowest water balance content during experiment (Fig.
4). Also, the data indicated that the application of pre+
post-harvest salicylic acid was more effective than in the
post-harvest salicylic acid application in change of water
balance values during vase period (Fig. 4).
During vase period, the decrease in water balance of
cut flowers in association with a lower water uptake and
high water loss. In the current research, salicylic acid treat –
ments maintained a more favourable water uptake and
suppressed water loss than in the control treatment. This
effect salicylic acid may be due to antimicrobial activity
(inhibiting vascular blockage), increases the water uptake
(Mori et al., 2001) and decrease in transpiration rate (Mei-
hua et al., 2008), thereby enhancing water balance of cut
flowers.
T otal chlorophyll
According to results shown in Fig. 5, the total chloro –
phyll content decreased significantly during experiment,
that the levels of total chlorophyll at the initial of the af –
ter harvest were higher than the end ones just. The results period, followed by 2 mM and 1 mM salicylic acid treat –
ments while the highest was in control treatment. With
respect to the results, the application of pre + post-harvest
salicylic acid is found to be more effective than in the post-
harvest salicylic acid application in reducing water loss of
cut alstroemeria flowers after harvest (Fig. 3).
According to V an Doorn (1997), water deficit in a cut
stem standing in vase solution will develop when the rate
of water uptake is lower than the rate of transpiration. In
our experiment, salicylic acid treatments supressed signifi –
cantly water loss than in the control treatment. It was as –
sumed that the effect of salicylic acid treatment on lower
of water loss could be due to the increasing water uptake
(Raskin, 1992) as well as decrease in transpiration rate
(Mei-hua et al., 2008).
W ater balance
The results in this experiment showed that the water
balance decreased significantly during experiment (Fig.
4). Reduction in the water balance during vase period is
in agreement with Lu et al . (2010) who reported that the
water balance of cut rose flowers declined almost linearly
with vase time. There was a significant difference ( p < 0.05)
between control and salicylic acid treatments in terms of
Fig. 3. Effect of pre + post-harvest and post-harvest applications of different concentrations of salicylic acid on water loss (g stem-1
day-1) of cut alstroemeria flowers during vase period. The results represent the means of 12 cut flowers in 4 replicates ± standard
errors
Fig. 4. Effect of pre + post-harvest and post-harvest applications of different concentrations of salicylic acid on water balance (g
stem-1 day-1) of cut alstroemeria flowers during vase period. The results represent the means of 12 cut flowers in 4 replicates ± stan –
dard errors

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368
V ase life
The significant differences ( p < 0.05) were revealed
among the treatments for vase life, that the control treat –
ment had the lowest vase life and 3 mM salicylic acid
treatment had the highest vase life after harvest (Fig. 6).
With respect to the results, using salicylic acid treatment
increased significantly the vase life cut alstroemeria flow –
ers, as compared to control treatment during experiment.
Previous researches had revealed that the salicylic acid
treatments significantly extend the vase life of cut flowers
(Mei-hua et al ., 2008; Y uping, 2009; Kazemi et al., 2011a
and b; Zamani et al., 2011; V ahdati et al., 2012), that is in
agreement with our results. As shown in Fig. 6, applica –
tion of pre + post-harvest salicylic acid is found to be more
effective in extending vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers
after harvest than in the post-harvest salicylic acid applica –
tion.
The short vase life of cut flowers was caused by poor
water relations in association with a lower water uptake
(probably due to growth of microbes and vascular block –
age), high rate of transpiration and water loss. The data
indicated that the salicylic acid treatments increased sig –
nificantly vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers than in the
control treatment. This effect of salicylic acid is might be
due to reduced the bacteria growth and vascular blockage,
maintained a more favourable water uptake, suppressed were in agreement with the findings reported by Ferrante
et al. (2002). There were significant differences in the total
chlorophyll content of the different treatments. The low –
est and highest the total chlorophyll values were observed
in control and 3 mM salicylic acid treatments, respectively
(Fig. 5). Similar data were also reported for cut flowers of
gerbera (Kazemi et al., 2011 a), lily (Kazemi et al., 2011
b) and rose (Zamani et al., 2011). The based on the pres –
ent data, pre + post-harvest application of salicylic acid
is found to be more effective in maintaining total chlo –
rophyll values of cut alstroemeria flowers after harvest, as
compared to application of post-harvest salicylic acid (Fig.
5).
The maintenance of green colour in the leaves is an im –
portant quality properties in these economically significant
ornamental plants. Previous study had revealed that the
leaf yellowing of cut alstroemeria flowers is associated
with chlorophyll breakdown and loss, thereby decreasing
significant vase life (Ferrante et al., 2002). According to
Fig. 5, all treatments showed decreases in total chlorophyll
content, although this decreases were significantly lower in
treatments of salicylic acid than in the control treatment.
Zamani et al . (2010) reported that the salicylic acid treat –
ment reduced total chlorophyll degradation and preserved
total chlorophyll content, is might be due to inhibiting
ethylene action, as compared to control treatment.
Fig. 5. Effect of pre + post-harvest and post-harvest applications of different concentrations of salicylic acid on total chlorophyll
(SAPD) of cut alstroemeria flowers during vase period. The results represent the means of 12 cut flowers in 4 replicates ± standard
errors
Fig. 6. Effect of pre + post-harvest and post-harvest applications of different concentrations of salicylic acid on vase life (days) of cut
alstroemeria flowers in experiment. The results represent the means of 12 cut flowers in 4 replicates ± standard errors

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369
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Conclusions
The naturally short vase life of the cut flowers is one of
the most important problems. The using of different treat –
ments is recommended to keeping quality and extend –
ing the vase life of cut flowers. In this study, in fluence of
salicylic acid pre and post-harvest applications on keeping
quality and vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers during vase
period were investigated. This research showed that the
same behaviour in all measured factors after harvest for all
treatments. The relative fresh weight, water uptake, water
balance, total chlorophyll content and vase life decreased
significantly while water loss increased significantly during
vase period. In addition, statistically significant differences
were observed between control and salicylic acid treat –
ments in all measured parameters. In terms of overall per –
formance, application of pre + post-harvest salicylic acid
is found to be more effective than in the post-harvest sali –
cylic acid application. Exogenous salicylic acid treatment
is able to increase vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers by
regulating the plant water and increasing total chlorophyll
content. Thus, the data suggest that salicylic acid treat –
ment has the potential to be used commercially to extend
the vase life of cut alstroemeria flowers.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge from Science
and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University for its kind
cooperation and their assistance in different aspects of this
study.
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