Effect of Accel, Sucrose and Silver Thiosulphate on the Water Relations and Post Harvest Physiology of Cut Tuberose Flowers

This study investigated the influence of cytokinins, gibberellins, sucrose and silver thiosulphate on water relations and post-harvest physiology of cut tuberose ( Polianthes tuberosa L) flowers. Tuberose flowers held in de-ionised water (DIW) had a vase life of 13 days with 63% floret opening. Addition of gibberellins (GA4+7) in the vase solution had no effect on vase life or floret opening along the spike. Pulsing of the cut flowers with 10% sucrose for 24 hr before transfer to DIW improved their vase life by 4 days and improved the floret opening by 21% above DIW controls. Addition of Benzylaminopurine (BA) at low concentrations (25-50 mg L-1) improved vase life of the cut tuberose stems while higher concentrations (75-100 mg L-1) gave no improvement. A 24 hr pulse in 10% sucrose improved the vase-life by 3.6 days and floret opening by 13%. Pulsed stems transferred to holding solutions containing various concentrations of BA improved vase life by an extra 3 days at BA concentration of 25 mg L-1. Higher BA concentrations gave no significant (P>0.05) improvement over the pulsed stems. However, floret opening was greater at 25 and 50 mg L-1 BA (P