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 NoHakuryo' (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 (GA 3 , 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.
A reliable in vitro propagation system was developed for the cut flower crop sandersonia (Sandersonia aurantiaca Hook). Explants comprised immature embryos from developing seeds and meristems from sprouting tubers. MS media supplemented with a range of thidiazuron (TDZ) concentrations lead to the formation of multiple shoot clusters. To overcome the deleterious effect of longterm exposure to TDZ concentrations, a multistage protocol of 4-weekly cycles was used. This comprised exposure to a high TDZ (3.0 mg l -1 ) medium for a single cycle to induce proliferation, followed by one or two cycles of low TDZ (0.3 mg l -1 ) media to allow for the development of shoot structures, and then a rest phase on growth-regulator free medium for one cycle prior to the return to a medium with high TDZ. Shoot clusters on growth-regulator free media formed minitubers (10-12 weeks), which sprouted, either in vitro, or ex vitro, with the resulting plants successfully acclimatised in the greenhouse.
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