SHELF-LIFE RESPONSES OF TWO MINIATURE POT ROSE CULTIVARS TO PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT, SHIPPING, AND AOA OR STS TREATMENT.
in HortScienceRooted liners of Rosa cvs. Meijikatar and Meirutral were potted into 11 cm pots and placed into growth chambers. One chamber provided 14 hours of light with 30C/21C (day/night) air temperature (HTLD) and another chamber provided 8 hours of light with 21C/17C (day/night) air temperature (LTSD). PPF was 725 μmoles m-2 s-1 in both chambers. When plants were established, they were pinched and forced to flower. Simulated shipping for 4 days at 16C in darkness resulted in a shorter shelf-life when placed in an interior environment at 21C with a continuous PPF of 30 μmoles m-2 s-1 and compared to non-shipped plants. In addition, LTSD grown plants exhibited a shorter shelf-life than HTLD grown plants. When Meirutral plants were sprayed to runoff 24 hours prior to shipping, 2 mmolar (aminooxy)acetic acid (AOA) increased the shelf-life to the same length as the non-shipped plants and 2 mmolar silver thiosulphate (STS) increased the shelf-life to longer than the non-shipped plants. However, AOA did not increase shelf-life over that of shipped plants for Meijikatar whereas STS increased the shelf-life to that of the non-shipped plants.
