Efficacy of Packaging Films and Chemical Preservatives in Extending Post-Harvest Vase Life and Biochemical Quality of Cut Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum Morifolium Ramat) Flowers

Cut chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat) is one of the world’s two most valuable flower crops. It has substantial cut flower decline and death rates (25%-40%) due to fast flower decline, occlusion of the xylem, and lack of water for the cut flower to uptake via the xylem. Careful application of packaging materials and floral preservatives as a whole may provide smallholders and producers with cost-effective ways to extend the postharvest period of flowers. There is limited data available characterizing the benefits of film types versus the advantages of floral preservative chemicals, under subtropical Indian storage conditions. Thirteen different treatment combinations were evaluated using a completely randomised design with three replications and involved;

i. five different types of film (polypropylene, low density polyethylene, corrugated cardboard, metallised BOPP (biaxially oriented polypropylene), and an open/control),

ii. five different types of preservatives (sucrose, sucrose + 8-HQC (8-hydroxyquinoline citrate), aluminium sulfate, silver nitrate, salicylic (acid)), and

iii. combined film and preservative treatments. Assessment included evaluation of: Cut stems of cv. ‘Snowball’ were assessed at 20 ± 2 °C for vase life, fresh weight retention, stem water uptake, relative water content, chlorophyll content (SPAD), flower diameter retention, stem length retention, malondialdehyde (MDA), total soluble protein, antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, POD, CAT), vase solution bacterial load, and overall quality score. The longest vase life of chrysanthemum cut flowers was found in Treatment T12 (LDPE Packaging + 3% Sucrose + 200 mg L^-1 of 8-HQC) with a mean of 16.8 ± 0.3 days representing a 127% increase over the control (7.4 days). In addition, Treatment T12 exhibited the highest fresh weight retention (94.6%), highest chlorophyll content (44.8 SPAD), highest amounts of antioxidant enzyme activity, lowest amounts of malondialdehyde (2.18 nmol g^-1 FW), and lowest microbial count (840 × 106 CFU mL^-). Treatment T13 (mBOPP Packaging + Sucrose +8-HQC) was rated as the next most effective combination (15.4 days). Among packaging-only treatments, LDPE (T3, 10.8 days) outperformed all other treatments. Among preservatives, the combination of Sucrose + 8-HQC (T7, 13.2 days) was superior to Silver Nitrate (T9, 12.6 days) with all comparisons being statistically significant (P = 0.05).

Therefore, packaging of chrysanthemum cut flowers with LDPE combined with a vase solution containing Sucrose and 8-HQC represents the optimal and commercially viable postharvest method for chrysanthemum cut flowers under conditions of subtropical storage due to the combined synergistic reduction of transpiration, bacteriologically caused xylem obstruction, oxidative senescence, and utilization of respiratory substrates.