Water relations and keeping-quality of cut Gerbera flowers. V. Role of endogenous cytokinins

Abstract

The objective of the present work was to investigate if differences in internal water relations, due to differences in membrane permeability, between Gerbera petals of inflorescences ageing in a vase and on the plant could be ascribed to differences in cytokinin activities. Moreover, cytokinin activities in petal-extracts of 3 cultivars, differing in their keeping-quality, were compared. Cytokinin activities (“free” and “bound”) in petals decreased during the first 6 days of the experiment (both in the vase and on the plant). On Day 8, a very high activity was found in almost all the R f-fractions of the chromatogram. After Day 8, the activity decreased again. For young inflorescences, developing on the plant, a peak level was reached for “free” cytokinins at a very early bud stage and for “bound” cytokinins when the petals were just fully expanded. There were no correlations between petal-cytokinin activities at day of harvest of 3 Gerbera cultivars and their keeping-quality. It is concluded that changes in membrane permeability, which occur during ageing of petals of cut Gerbera inflorescences, are not triggered by changes in cytokinin activities.