Water relations and senescence of cut Iris flowers: effects of cycloheximide
Wouter G. van Doorn, Harmannus Harkema and J. S. Song
Postharvest Biology and Technology Vol: 5 Issue: 4, pp. 345-351.
1995
บทคัดย่อ
When placed in water directly after harvest, flowering stems of Iris ×
hollandica Tub., cultivar `Blue Magic', showed inrolling of the tepal edges
after about five days and tepal wilting after about six days. These senescence
symptoms were not due to an occlusion in the stems as both the water balance
and the water potential did not decrease substantially when the stem ends were
held in water. Cycloheximide at 50 
M,
included in the water after flower opening, delayed inrolling by about two and
wilting by about four days. Cycloheximide resulted in rapid stomatal closure
and a decrease in the rates of transpiration and water uptake, but its effect
on senescence was not related with improvement of the water balance of the
flowers.
The results show that the delay of tepal senescence by cycloheximide is located in the tepal cells, and not in the overall water relations. Irreversible water loss from the tepals is apparently controlled by de novo synthesis of proteins. The results also indicate that flower senescence in ethylene-insensitive species, such as Iris, responds similarly to cycloheximide as carnation, an ethylene-sensitive flower.