Effects of Preservative Treatments and Storage on Postharvest Quality of Anthurium Cut Flowers
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Hong, Rui-Syun
Abstract
Anthurium (Anthurium andraeanum Lindl.) is one of the major cut flower for export in Taiwan. During the process of exportation, the anthurium cut flowers were tape-packed in commercial packages and shipped horizontally without temperature control for 3 to 6 days. This handling process usually resulted in reduced vase life and upward bending at the flower neck; thus reduced the overall quality of the cut flower. This research studied the water balance during flower senescence of different cultivars of anthurium, the application of plant growth regulators and various chemicals in pulsing treatment on the post-shipment vase life of anthurium cut flowers, and the behavior of the upward bending of flower stalk neck and its recovery.
The vase life of ‘Tropical’, ‘Fantasia’, ‘Pistache’ and ‘Midori’ cut flowers at 25℃ were 12.5, 11.8, 62 and 51 days, respectively. After stored at 20℃ for 6 days, the vase life of ‘Tropical’ and ‘Fantasia’ were 6 days less, and the vase life of ‘Pistache’ and ‘Midori’ were 26 and 13 days less. In all cultivars, when the cut flowers started to senescent, its fresh weight and water uptake started to decreased, resulting in the increase of water balance. There were good correlations between the imbalance of water relationship and the initiation of flower senescence. This result indicated that when the water uptake rate of the cut flower was less than the rate of water loss, the cut flower will started to senesce.
Spraying ‘Tropical’ and ‘Fantasia’ cut flowers with BA, GA3 or GA4+7 + BA extended their vase life after storage as compared to the control. Among the treatments, 100 ppm GA4+7 + BA had the best result that extended the vase life for 13 and 12 days respectively. These treatments delayed both the decrease in the fresh weight and the water uptake of the cut flower, and thus stabilized the water balance and extended the vase life of the cut flower.
Pulsing ‘Tropical’ cut flowers with sucrose at either 2％ for 60 min or 10％ for 30 min extended the vase life after simulated shipment for 1.3 days. Pulsing with 8-Hydroxyquinoline sulfate (8-HQS) at 200 ppm for 60 min, 400 ppm or 800 ppm for 30 min extended the vase life for 1 day. Pulsing with dichloroisocyanuric acid(DCIA) at 100 and 200 ppm for 30 min, or with citric acid at 100 ppm for 60 and 120 min extended the vase life for 1.5 to 2 days. No significant differences in vase life were observed in pulsing treatments with physan-20 or AVG. On the other hand, pulsing with silver thiosulfate (STS) or AgNO3 led to the aging of cut flower and thus shortened the vase life. Sucrose may serve as the substrate of metabolism and maintained the physiology activity of the cut flower. 8-HQS, DICA and citric acid inhibited the microorganism growth in solution, thus maintained water uptake of cut flowers and extended the vase life.
The anthurium cut flowers were usually tape-packed in commercial packages. After stored horizontally in the commercial package for 3 or more days, the neck of the flower stalk, i.e the junction point between the spadix and the flower stalk, tends to bend upward upon unpacking of the box. Storing the same package vertically did not result significant bending. The behavior of the upward bending of the neck was studied. The angle between the stalk and the spadix of ‘Tropical’ anthurium cut flower increased rapidly from 0° to 15° during the first five hours after horizontal storage. The angle increased to 45° after 48 hours of horizontally storage at 20℃. When cut flowers were placed horizontally with their spathe hanging out freely, the bending angle increased slowly, reaching 25° after 48 hours. When cut flowers were tape-packed in commercial package and stored vertically, the angle increased to 15° after 5 days. These result indicate that gravity along could not cause the rapid upward bending of the neck; it was the packing method that exerted the initial pressure on the spathe that may play an important role in the upward bending of the neck. The maximum bending angle was around 40°. Flower stalks of both ‘Tropical’ and ‘Fantasia’ cut flower bent to 40° after stored horizontally at 20℃ for 3 or 6 days. The bending angle gradually reduced when the cut flowers were placed in vase. The ability of anthurium cut flowers to restore their original state varied with cultivar and the duration of storage. After 3 days of storage, flower stalks of ‘Tropical’ restored to 10° after 3 days in vase and ‘Fantasia’ only restored to 25°. After 6 days of storage, flower stalks of ‘Tropical’ restored to 30° after 3 days in vase and ‘Fantasia’ remained unchanged. When the spadix was removed from ‘Tropical’ cut flower, serious bending was also observed between the spathe and the flower stalk after horizontal storage in commercial package at 20℃ for 3 days; and the bending angle showed little restoration in vase. Holding ‘Tropical’ and ‘Fantasia’ cut flowers in tubes containing 5 mM CaCl2 during storage showed limited help in restoring the bending angle. On the other hand, holding cut flowers in 2, 10 and 20 mM EGTA had no beneficial effect.
Subjects
anthurium
cut flower
water balance
plant growth regulator
pulsing
commercial package
bending stalk
Type
thesis
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