Longevity of wild pansy flowers treated with growth regulators

The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth regulators action on the senescence of wild pansy flowers. In the first experiment, floral stems were treated with ethylene for 24 hours at concentrations of 0.1, 1.0, 10, 100 and 1000 μL L-1 and control without the hormone. In a second experiment, the flowers were immersed in solutions of abscisic acid (ABA) containing 5, 20, 50 and 100 μM for one minute and control with water. In a third experiment, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) was applied at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 μL L-1 and control without the chemical. In a fourth experiment, 1-MCP and ethylene were applied, where 1-MCP was first applied followed by ethylene. After the treatments with 1-MCP and ethylene, the floral stems were removed from the hermetic chambers and kept in a vessel containing distilled water at 25 °C, 10 μmol m-2 s- 1 white fluorescent light and 50-70% relative humidity as for the ABA treatment. Flowers treated with ethylene did not present significant differences among the concentrations for visual senescence, showing evidence that this flower is not sensitive to ethylene. Treatment with 1000 μL L-1 of ethylene led to a slightly higher fresh weight loss than other treatments, which had a loss of about 33% at end of the experiment. For the ABA treatment, the flowers showed similar fresh weight loss among the different treatments; however, higher concentrations induced slight senescence of flowers. The use of 1-MCP increased the longevity of wild pansy flowers. These results show that 1-MCP is beneficial in maintaining the flower water status, even in the presence of exogenous ethylene, although ethylene may not be directly involved in the senescence of wild pansy flowers.