บทคัดย่องานวิจัย

หมวดหมู่ : ฐานข้อมูลงานวิจัย

The effect of long-term storage on peony flowers.

Williams M., Walton E., McLaren J., Boldingh H., Jackson R., Petley M.

5th International Postharvest Symposium . Volume of Abstract . Verona, Italy 6-11 June 2004, p.96

2004

บทคัดย่อ

The effect of long-term storage on peony flowers.     Peonies grown for cut flowers production tend to be of the herbaceous types and derived from species Paeonia lactiflora Pall.Peony is an expanding export crop for New Zealand, with most of the stems being sent to the USA.To compete o­n this market, consistent quality and post harvest performance are essential.Storage of cut stems will allow a broader market window and so we investigated the effect of long-term storage (8 weeks) o­n peony flower opening and vase life.

The work presented here is part of a program focused o­n understanding how pre harvest factors influence post harvest performance and therefore consumer satisfaction.Carbohydrate (starch and soluble sugars) levels were determined in flowers at harvest and during opening through until senescence.Carbohydrate levels were also determined during and after long-term storage.The sugars detected were fructose, glucose, sucrose, inositol and sorbitol.At harvest starch and sugars concentrations were similar at approx. 120 mg g-1 DW.As the flowers opened starch was hydrolysed and both fructose and glucose concentrations increased two fold.Buds took o­n average 5 days to open and had a total vase life of 14 days.During long term storage samples were collected at 2-weekly intervals and these showed that in flower buds no starch was detectable after 4 weeks.On removal from storage, flowers opened in 2 days and had a total vase life of 9 days.

The more rapid flower opening after storage is likely to be associated with the fact that starch hydrolysis was complete.We are currently manipulated peony plants in an attempt to increase preharvest starch concentrations in buds and ultimately increase vase life.