Abstract:
Floriculture is one the emerging horticultural crops industry in Ethiopia; however there are
different pre-harvest and post-harvest production constraints that affect the development of the
industry .Pre-cooling time is one of the factors that determine the post-harvest quality and the
shelf life of cut flowers. A laboratory experiment was conducted at Tana Flora PLC in 2022 to
assess the influence of pre-cooling times on the vase life of different rose varieties. The
experiment consisted of five (5) pre-cooling treatments (zero hour, two hours, four hours, six
hours and eight hours) and four (4) rose varieties (Orchestra, Bellerose, Furiosa and Athena)
arranged in factorial combination with CRD in three replications. Six (6) flowers of each
treatment were pre-cooled using different pre-cooling times at 8°C temperature inside precooling room. The main and interaction effects of Pre-cooling times and varieties were very
highly significant (P < 0.0001) on water loss, water balance, days to full blooming and dry
matter contents. In addition, the main effects of both factors were very highly significant
(P<0.0001) on vase life, bud diameter and relative fresh weight change, while their interaction
effect were showed significant (P<0.05) differences. Bellerose variety pre-cooled for six hours
and four hours performed a better blooming day (9days), vase life (17days), head diameter
(7cm), water balance (-4.0ml/stem/day), relative fresh weight change (82.22%) and dry matter
contents (22.22%). Cut rose flower variety Bellerose pre-cooled for four hours and six hours
were recorded the longest vase life (17days), followed by Athena and Furiosa (15.67days) and
Orchestra (15.16 days). On the other hand, Orchestra pre-cooled for zero hour also recorded
the shortest vase life (11.33days) during the study. Thus, it is advised to pre-cool the flowers for
four up to six hours to maintain the freshness and vase life during post harvest handling. The
findings of the study provide an alternative practices to extend the vase life of cut roses and its
quality for the satisfaction of flower users and consumers.