Postharvest spraying with peppermint or eucalyptus essential oil may improve rose longevity

The loss of commercial quality during storage and transportation of?roses?is one of the factors that reflect on production costs, leading producers to preventively apply harmful chemicals, mainly to hamper?Botrytis cinerea?development and reduce further losses. An alternative to increase flower longevity without contaminating the environment with harmful chemicals is the use of natural products, such as?essential oils, which have fungistatic and insecticide properties, as well as low toxicity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of essential oils on the?vase life?of?Rosa?cv. Avalanche: 12 treatments were tested, resulting from the combination of 5 types of essential oils plus the control in two?cold storage?periods (2 to 6 days) at 1?C, 90-95% RH. The essential oils tested were?eucalyptus,?cinnamon, lemongrass and peppermint (1%), clove (0.1%), plus a control with distilled water. Application was made by spraying the flower buds. After storage at low temperatures, the flower?stems?were kept in a room (16?C, 70% RH) during 10 days for evaluation. Flower stems stored for 2 days in a cold chamber showed better means for darkening, turgor and bent neck, as well as a lower weight loss by the stems. The application of lemongrass essential oil at 1% caused burns on the petals, compromising quality and pot life. The essential oils of peppermint and eucalyptus allowed flower quality maintenance until the 10th day of evaluation. It is possible to conclude that post-harvest spraying with peppermint or eucalyptus essential oil at 1%, combined with cold storage for 2 days, provided greater longevity and quality for cv. Avalanche roses. Sources Postharvest quality of essential oil treated rosesManfredini, G. M.;?Paiva, P. D. de O.;?Almeida, E. F. A.;?Nascimento, ?. M. P. do;?Sales, T. S.;?Santos, L. O.Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), Departamento de Agricultura, Lavras-MG, Brazil.Author Email :?elkaflori@hotmail.comJournal article :?Ornamental Horticulture?2017 Vol.23 No.2 pp.192-199 ref.23ISSN :?2447-536XDOI :?10.14295/oh.v23i2.993https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20173271894 Picture by?Essential Oil Experts