Abstract
Nitric oxide (NO) acts as anti senescence substance, which may extend the postharvest life of fruits, vegetables and flowers when they are treated with micro molar concentrations of compounds like the donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP). This work aimed to evaluate the effect pulsing or spraying of NO on the longevity of cut Epidendrum ibaguense inflorescences. After harvested, the inflorescences were pulsed for 6, 24 or 48 hours with 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 µM SNP or sprayed until run off with the same mentioned solutions. Controls were treated with distilled water. After the treatment, the flowers were placed in deionized water, which was changed every 2 days. No significant differences were observed on the longevity of flowers treated with 5, 10, 50 or 100 µM SNP, regardless of the mode of application. Inflorescences treated with 500 µM SNP had reduced longevity and increased flower abscission. In inflorescences kept in SNP solution, toxic symptoms such as darkening of the labellum resulting in reduced longevity compared with the control. The longevity of inflorescences sprayed with 500 µM SNP reduced from 6.8±0.57 to 5.1±0.82 days. Collectively, NO treatments were not able to extend the shelf life of E. ibaguense inflorescences and high concentrations of the NO donor compound in vase solution or spraying leads to toxicity symptoms on the flower labellum.
Highlights
The Orchidaceae Epidendrum ibaguense, whose flowering occurs almost throughout year in Brazil, exhibits a great potential to be used as a cut flower due to the uniformity of color, exuberance of inflorescence and long flowering stems (Moura et al, 2010)
nitric oxide (NO) plays the role of protecting the cell against oxidative stress (Yin et al, 2012), inhibits the expression of genes involved in the ethylene biosynthetic pathway (Manjunatha et al, 2012) and lipid peroxidation (Procházková and Wilhelmová, 2011)
The longevity, with an average of 4.6 days, was not affected by 5-100 μM sodium nitroprusside (SNP) pulsed for 6 hours (Table 1)
Summary
The Orchidaceae Epidendrum ibaguense, whose flowering occurs almost throughout year in Brazil, exhibits a great potential to be used as a cut flower due to the uniformity of color, exuberance of inflorescence and long flowering stems (Moura et al, 2010). As the species is highly sensitive to ethylene, it observed premature senescence and abscission of the flowers (Mapeli et al, 2009). Postharvest experiments are necessary to find ways in circumventing this issue and some studies suggest the nitric oxide (NO) potentially acts as an anti-ethylene substance and can extend the shelf-life of ethylene sensitive flowers. NO plays the role of protecting the cell against oxidative stress (Yin et al, 2012), inhibits the expression of genes involved in the ethylene biosynthetic pathway (Manjunatha et al, 2012) and lipid peroxidation (Procházková and Wilhelmová, 2011). The promotion or delay the floral senescence by application of NO depends on the concentration and species under study (Sankhala et al, 2004)
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