The inhibitory effects of the cyclic olefin 2,5-norbornadiene (NBD) on ethylene action were tested in carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L. cv White Sim) flowers. Treatment of flowers at anthesis with ethylene in the presence of 500 microliters per liter NBD increased the concentration of ethylene required to elicit a response (petal senescence), indicating that NBD behaves as a competitive inhib...

The class B MADS box transcription factors DEFICIENS (DEF) and GLOBOSA (GLO) of Antirrhinum majus together control the organogenesis of petals and stamens. Toward an understanding of how the downstream molecular mechanisms controlled by DEF contribute to petal organogenesis, we conducted expression profiling experiments using macroarrays comprising >11,600 annotated Antirrhinum unigenes. First,...

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) is popular worldwide because of its gorgeous flower colour, and the yellow flower is the rarest. However, its mechanism of yellow formation is still unexplored from the post-translational level. In this study, the anatomy of the petal, cell sap pH and metal elements were investigated in bicoloured flower cultivar 'Jinhui' with red outer-petal and yell...

The effects of salicylic acid (SA) and Putrescine (Put), on cut Gladioluswas studied. SA (0, 150, 300 and 450 mg l-1) and Put (0, 100, 200 and 300 mg l-1), their combinations were tested as preservative mixture. This study was conducted in a factorial experiment with complete randomized design on 192 Gladioluscut flowers in horticulture laboratory of agriculture faculty of...

The effects of salicylic acid (SA) and Putrescine (Put), on cut Gladioluswas studied. SA (0, 150, 300 and 450 mg l-1) and Put (0, 100, 200 and 300 mg l-1), their combinations were tested as preservative mixture. This study was conducted in a factorial experiment with complete randomized design on 192 Gladioluscut flowers in horticulture laboratory of agriculture faculty of...

Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly reactive signaling molecule and plays a variety of physiological roles in plants. The research on the application of NO to postharvest preservation of flowers and fruits shows great promise in recent years. However, the physiological mechanism of exogenous NO to affect cut flowers is not very clear, and NO donor treatment protected plants from damage by increasing ...

Most important breeding goals in ornamental crops are plant appearance and flower characteristics where selection is visually performed on direct offspring of crossings. We developed an image analysis toolbox for the acquisition of flower and petal images from cultivated carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) that was validated by a detailed analysis of flower and petal size and shape in 78 comme...

In Arabidopsis, APETALA1, PISTILLATA, APETALA3 and SEPALLATA interact to form multimeric protein complexes required to specify petal identity. However, the downstream events that lead to petal specific shape and size remain largely unknown. Organ final size can be influenced by cell number or cell expansion or both. To date, no gene that specifically limits petal size by controlling postmitotic...

The most popular fragrant cut rose cultivar in Japan is ‘Yves Piaget’, but its petals often become malformed after harvest. These flowers, referred to as “incurved flowers”, are characterized by curving toward the adaxial side which prevents normal flowering and significantly decreases flower quality. It has been reported that jasmonic acid (JA) affects petal growth, could suppress emergence of...

There is considerable disagreement as to whether or not water is equally available to plants in drying soil over the entire range from field capacity to wilting percentage. Some workers have repeatedly stated that water is equally available over this range (5, 18, 23, 24) while considerable data have accumulated which indicate that physiological processes in plants are altered as a result of de...