Display life of Gentiana flowers is cultivar specific and influenced by sucrose, gibberellin, fluoride, and postharvest storage

Abstract

Gentiana are developing into a significant New Zealand export cut flower crop. The current investigation was undertaken to describe the postharvest characteristics of the cultivars grown in New Zealand, thereby establishing a baseline for selection of new cultivars with superior postharvest performance. Three cultivars were used in the current postharvest investigation, G. triflora ’Nasu No‐Hakuryo’ (a white flowered cultivar), and two blue flowered cultivars, G. triflora ’Late Blue’ and G. triflora ’ Ashiro No‐Ake’. The postharvest quality of these Gentiana cut flowers is influenced by a number of factors including harvest maturity, pulsing solutions, cultivar, fluoride, and postharvest storage. In particular, pulsing solutions that contain sucrose (2–5%) or gibberellic acid (GA3, 10 μM) extended the vase life of ‘Late Blue’ and enhanced the quality (blue coloration of apical buds) of ‘Ashiro No‐Ake’, but did not improve the postharvest quality of ‘Nasu No‐Hakuryo’. The effectiveness of these solutions is reduced when stems are not subjected to extended periods of postharvest storage, or when stems are harvested at an advanced stage of maturity.