Application of calcium, boron and sucrose on cut peony stems (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) cv. Karl Rosenfield

In cut flowers, there must be clear guidelines for export, therefore, it is essential to proper postharvest management, to store the flowers for as long as possible in top condition, both for transit and vase life; in Chile there is very little knowledge about this operation. In order to address these questions, a study was conducted to evaluate the performance of postharvest life of the peony cultivar ‘Karl Rosenfield’, using four treatments: water, preharvest Borocal with water, Borocal with 100 g sucrose/L of water, and 100 g sucrose/L of water, some of which had Borocal added preharvest and sucrose applied postharvest; evaluating four quality parameters in cut flowers: floral diameter, stem curvature, stem weight and vase life. The present study lasted 25 days, which was the total time of refrigerated storage. The results showed that peony stems with preharvest applications of Borocal and postharvest applications of only water presented the highest values in terms of floral diameter, stem weight and particularly increased vase life, with no significant differences in stem curvature.