Influence of Variation in Plant Characteristics Caused by Bulb Weight on Inflorescence and Individual Flower Longevity of Asiatic Hybrid Lilies after Harvest

Abstract

<jats:p>Nongenetic variation in cut flower longevity due to plant characteristics was investigated in whole inflorescences and individual flowers of Asiatic hybrid lilies <jats:italic>(Lilium</jats:italic> L.). To distinguish this variation from genetic variation, plant characteristics of five cultivars were varied by using bulbs of three significantly different weight classes per cultivar. Inflorescence longevity depended on total number of floral buds, number of buds opening and variation in bud length. Variation in individual flower longevity per cultivar appeared to be small, despite a larger number of buds per stem with increasing bulb weight. Plant characteristics caused only small nongenetic variation in individual flower longevity when compared to inflorescence longevity. Therefore, individual flower longevity appears to be the best criterion to discriminate among longevity levels for a lily breeding program.</jats:p>

Postharvest flower development in Asiatic hybrid lilies as related to tepal carbohydrate status

“…Their sink strength might be insufficient to compete with the other developing buds for substrate provided by the open flower and the largest bud stages within the inflorescence. In 'Fashion' no such small buds were present at harvest (Table 1), mainly due to cultivar differences in flower bud distribution as reported before (Van der Meulen-Muisers and Van Oeveren, 1996). For buds up to 60 mm, developmental differences between attached and detached flower buds became visible about 3-4 days after harvest (Fig.…”

“…In Lilium, flower buds express a high sink strength throughout their development until anthesis (Wang and Breen, 1986), probably correlated with the increase in growth of floral tissue, occurring after the anthers have reached the sporal mitosis stage (Clément et al, 1996). Variation in individual flower longevity within the lily inflorescence is relatively small despite large differences in developmental stage of the floral buds at harvest (Van der Meulen-Muisers and Van Oeveren, 1996;Van der Meulen-Muisers et al, 1998). In a previous paper, it was demonstrated that preharvest floral bud reduction increases individual flower longevity in Lilium after harvest (Van der Meulen-Muisers et al, 1995).…”

Early Generation Evaluation in Antirrhinum majus for Prediction of Cutflower Postharvest Longevity

“…(Wernett et al, 1996a(Wernett et al, , 1996b, Lilium sp. (van der Meulen-Muisers and van Oeveren, 1996;van der Meulen-Muisers et al, 1997), Petunia sp. (Krahl and Randle, 1999), Rosa sp.…”