The Postharvest Characteristics and Water Balance of Some Cultivars of Tree-Peony Cut Flowers

This paper was to study the relationship among the postharvest opening progress, the vase life and the water balance of the cut flowers of Tree-Peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) cultivars. Five cultivars were investigated with the indexes of opening stages, the vase life and water transpiration, etc. The results showed that cultivars 'Bai Hua Cong Xiao', 'Zhu Hong Jue Lun' and 'Xue Lian' all exhibited fast opening pace and could be in full blooming with 5-6 days' vase life. 'Yu Mian Tao Hua' and 'Tian Xiang Zhan Lu' lasted 8 days' vase life, however, they did not show longer ornamental period than the prior 3 cultivars since their slower opening process. The changing trends of water balance differed among cultivars could be also grouped to 2 as mentioned above. The water balance values in 'Bai Hua Cong Xiao', 'Zhu Hong Jue Lun' and 'Xue Lian' began at high level and decreased dramatically in 2 days, then went up gradually during the late period of vase life, whereas it began at lower level and then go up and down