Post-harvest of safflower flower stems harvested at different times and submitted to different preservative solutions

Abstract

The conservation of the cut flower stems aims to prolong durability, maintain the quality and reduce the losses after harvest, providing a greater period of lifespan and commercialization. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the quality and durability in post-harvest of fresh safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) flower stems harvested in different times and submitted to different preservative solutions. The experiment was conducted in entirely randomized design and, organized in 4x8 (four preservative solutions and eight harvest seasons) factorial scheme, with four repetitions, and each experimental unit consisting of five floral stems. The cultivation of floral stems of safflower occurred at Floriculture Sector and the harvest seasons of them were carried out in the beginning of flowering from the sowing performed in the first seasonal half: in winter, spring and summer of 2016, autumn, winter, spring and summer of 2017 and autumn of 2018. And, the preservative solutions were: distilled water (control); distilled water + sucrose 2%; distilled water + sodium hypochlorite 2% and distilled water + sucrose 2% + sodium hypochlorite 2%. The floral stems were evaluated in relation to quality notes, dehydration and absorption of preservative solutions. We observed that the floral stems of safflower presented shelf life in average of nine days, with absorption of solution in average of 0.021 mL day-1 g-1 of fresh mass and that the use of preservatives was not beneficial to conservation in post-harvest.