Postharvest performance of cut ‘White Prosperity’ gladiolus spikes in response to nano- and other silver sources

Abstract

A study was conducted to compare the efficacy of nano-silver (NS), silver thiosulfate (STS), and silver nitrate as novel postharvest treatments, and evaluate the potential of nano-silver pulse (higher concentration) or vase (lower concentration) applications on postharvest performance of cut gladiolus (Gladiolus hybrids ‘White Prosperity’) spikes. Among silver compounds, spikes kept in silver nitrate had longest vase life. Spikes placed in STS at 10 or 20 mg L−1 had longer vase life than stems placed in NS, but similar to the stems placed in water. For NS pulse applications, spikes pulsed with 50 mg L−1 NS for 1 h at 20 ± 2 °C had 2.2 d longer vase life compared to the spikes in water. Pulsing of spikes for 1 h extended the vase life of cut gladiolus compared with 4 or 8 h pulsing durations. Spikes kept continuously in NS until end of vase life resulted in 4.2 d longer vase life at a lower concentration of 0.01 mg L−1. With increasing NS concentration to 10 mg L−1, vase life decreased to similar vase life as with tap water. The results demonstrated that NS at a 50 mg L−1 pulse for 1 h or 0.01 mg L−1 vase application can be used for extending vase life of cut gladiolus spikes.