PDF file - Israel Trade Commission

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Agriculture 2011 Sea Transport of Easter Lily* cut Flowers: Determination of the Optimal Harvest Stage Shimon Meir 1* , Shoshana Salim 1* , Betina Kochanek 1* , Tamar Tzadka 1* , Tamar Lahav 2* and Sonia Philosoph-Hadas 1* Figure 1: Definition of the opening and senescence stages of the lily florets cv. ‘White Heaven’ from stage 1 = closed, green floret of 7-9 cm length, through stage 8 = the senescence stage, in which the petals turn transparent, wilted and tend to drop. Stage 5 was defined as the opening stage, while stage 6 represents full opening. The transition from stage 5 to 6 lasts only few hours. Introduction Easter lily (Lilium Longiflorum) cut flowers are quite large and heavy. Therefore, it is most important to reduce their shipping costs by exporting them via sea freight rather than by air transport. According to financial analyses, sea transport in comparison to air transport (marketing and freight) amounted to a savings of 17,000 IS per dunam, which is very significant for the growers. As such, reliable methods for shipping lilies by sea transport should be developed. Flower auctions and dealers generally receive the lily *(Lilium Longiflorum) 10 cut flowers before their florets start to open, when the first floret reaches its maximum closed bud size. This stage is also the recommended harvest stage when the flowers are transported by air. The recommendations for postharvest treatment developed in our laboratory included pulsing with preservatives containing 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate and surfactants (TOG-4, Merhav Agro Ltd., Ashdod, <strong>Israel</strong>), together with the gibberellin GA 3 at a concentration of 25 ppm to delay leaf senescence and yellowing. We have shown that the GA 3 pulsing treatment was very effective also in delaying leaf and flower senescence of various other lily cultivars, such as Longiflorum x Asiatic hybrid ‘Shira’ and Lilium candidum L. The present study describes the development of sea transport conditions for shipping Easter lily cut flowers cvs. ‘White Heaven’ and ‘Maggie Blanche’ bearing two or multiple florets per stem, as compared to their air transport. The study was focused on determination of the optimal harvest stage for the sea shipment. Materials and Methods Chemicals: TOG-6 containing organic chlorine, TOG-4 containing 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate, the ‘Teabag’ formulation containing the gibberellin GA 3 (all supplied by Merhav Agro Ltd., Ashdod, <strong>Israel</strong>). Pulsing treatments and shipment simulations: Lily flowers were harvested from the growers at various harvest stages (as detailed in Figures 1-4), sorted and bound into 5-stem bunches, and then brought in cartons to the laboratory at the Volcani Center. Immediately upon their arrival, the flowering stems were pulsed for 4 h at 20°C and additional 16 h at 2°C with the recommended
Agriculture 2011 Figure 2: Effect of the harvest stage of multi-floret stems of ‘Maggie Blanche’ lily following air (A, B, C) or sea (D, E, F) transport simulations, on days to flower opening of florets 1 and 2 (A, D), days from flower opening to death of floret 2 (B, E), and on total vase life duration determined when floret 2 reached senescence stage 8 (C, F). Flowers were harvested when their first floret reached the stages presented in Fig. 2G, and treated as described in Materials and Methods. The results represent means of 5 replicates ± SE. The red numbers in Fig. 2D indicate the difference in days to opening of florets 1 and 2 following sea and air transport. treatment comprised of 0.2% TOG-4 + 25 ppm GA 3 . The flowers were then packed into commercial cartons and stored for air transport (2-3 days at 6°C) or sea transport (8 days at 2°C) simulations. After storage, the flowers were placed in vases containing TOG-6 as a preservative, and incubated in a controlled standard observation room (20°C, 60-70% relative humidity and 12-h photoperiod) to determine their longevity following the transport simulations. Determination of the harvest stage and floret quality parameters: The harvest stage was determined according to the floret size as detailed in Figure 2G, and according to the turning of the floret bud color from green to white (Figure 4G). Eight stages of development and senescence of the floret in the vase were defined, as presented in Figure 1 for the ‘White Heaven’ cultivar. The first, second and third florets were marked on the Figure 3: Effect of the harvest stage of multi-floret stems of ‘Maggie Blanche’ lily on the diameter (A) and length (B) of florets 1-3 at full opening stage (stage 7) during vase life, following air transport simulation. The experiment was performed as detailed in Figure 2. The results represent means of 5 replicates ± SE. flowering stem, and their developmental stages until senescence were followed-up during vase life. We have monitored the days to floret opening (stage 5 in Figure 1), and the days from floret opening to its senescence. The flowering stem was discarded when the second floret reached senescence stage 8, and the total vase life duration was determined accordingly. The quality parameters, including floret diameter and length, were monitored at full opening before senescence (stage 7 in Figure 1). Results and Discussion The results of the experiments conducted with the ‘Maggie Blanche’ lily cultivar harvested at three different stages (Figure 2G), indicate that sea transport (Figure 2E) did not affect the number of days (6-7) during which the florets were open in the vase, in comparison to air transport (Figure 2B). Hence, the shipment method had no effect on the floret senescence rate after opening. The only difference between flowers transported either by air or by sea was obtained in the rate of opening of 11
Page 2 and 3: Where Science Complements Nature He
Page 4 and 5: Are you interested in the keys to s
Page 6 and 7: Agriculture 2011 Development of Oni
Page 8 and 9: Our FreshCast families of films are
Page 12 and 13: Agriculture 2011 Figure 4: Effect o
Page 14 and 15: Agriculture 2011 Cucurbita Rootstoc
Page 16: Agriculture 2011 Table 1: Average c
Page 19: Agriculture 2011 Fig. 3: Semi-comme
Page 22 and 23: Agriculture 2011 Antonella - A new
Page 25 and 26: Mapal Products speak for themselves
Page 27: Agriculture 2011 Figure 2: A very l
Page 31 and 32: Agriculture 2011 In order to test t
Page 33: Agam Advanced Agronomy It Makes Sen
Page 36 and 37: Agriculture 2011 Company Profiles B
Page 38 and 39: Agriculture 2011 Haifa- Teaspoon Fe
Page 40 and 41: E-mail:nurit-l@zahav.net.il
Page 42 and 43: innovation in Fertigation & Foliar
Page 44 and 45: Agriculture 2011 List of The Advert
Page 47: Coconut based Substrates Vegetables

PDF file - Israel Trade Commission

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?