Abstract The horticultural product marketability is strongly affected by quality loss during the post-harvest chain. Production of floricultural plants in greenhouses is possible by controlling several growth conditions such as air temperature, air humidity, light intensity and quality, plant density and nutrition. According to the growth strategy many combinations of these conditions are possible. The initial state at the harvest time depends on pre-harvest condition. The aim of the present study was the measurement of the effects of different pre-harvest conditions on postharvest behavior of cut gerbera. Two cultivars of gerbera were grown at different air temperatures (20, 24 and 28°C) with two light regimes (natural and supplementary lighting) and then subjected to same post-harvest condition. Vase life and bending incidence of cut scapes of two gerbera cultivars “Red explosion” and “Fiction” were determined during storage at 25°C. We observed that low and high air temperature negatively affected keeping quality. In addition, supplementary lighting during stem elongation may intensify this trend in some treatments.

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