ISHS Acta Horticulturae 394: Plant Bioregulators in Horticulture
ETHYLENE PRODUCTION BY JAPANESE MORNING GLORY (PHARBITIS NIL) FLOWERS AND THE EFFECT OF ENDOGENOUS ETHYLENE ON FLOWER SENESCENCE |
| Authors: | H. Iwahashi, H. Hyodo |
| Keywords: | Ethylene, Flower senescence, Japanese Morning Glory, 2,5-Norbornadiene, Pharbitis nil, Wilting |
| Abstract:
Japanese Morning Glory (Pharbitis nil Choisy, strain Violet) plants were grown under continuous light at 26°C. Flower buds were induced by exposing seedlings to a 16-h dark period for successive three days. Only the flower bud at the axil of the first leaf was allowed to bloom, which was used for studying postharvest senescence. The corolla started wilting (in-rolling) around 6 h after harvest, which progressed rapidly during the subsequent 20 h. The flower senesced completely 40 to 50 h after harvest. The rate of ethylene production increased with time, reaching a peak shortly after harvest (ca. 6 h) before the rapid development of corolla fading was observed. The distinct rise in ethylene production was followed by a second but smaller increase at around 30 h. 2,5-Norbornadiene (NBD) significantly retarded the progress of wilting of the corolla during senescence and the exposure of flowers to exogenous ethylene clearly accelerated the wilting process. These results indicate that ethylene is involved in stimulating flower senescence as an endogenous hormone in Pharbitis nil. | |
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