POSTHARVEST LONGEVITY OF CUT-FLOWER GERBERA .1. RESPONSE TO SELECTIONFOR VASE LIFE COMPONENTS

A broad source of Gerbera x hybrida Hort. germplasm was evaluated for vase life. Senescence mode, i.e., bending or folding of stems or wilti ng of ligulae was also recorded for flowers evaluated. Intensive selec tion was practiced to improve vase life. About 10% of tbe plants from a sample population were selected for having flowers with high vase li fe, Progeny means for vase life resulting from a topcross between thes e plants and 'Appleblossom' were used to select five plants (about 1.5 % of the sample population) whose flowers had high vase life. A dialle l cross using these five plants as parents resulted in a progeny popul ation with an increase in mean vase life of 3.4 days compared to mean vase life for the initial sample population. Increases in vase life me ans for days to bending, folding, and silting were 0.3, 3.5, and 1.2 d ays, respectively. Plants with flowers which senesced due to wilting h ad the longest mean vase life before and after breeding, Changes in pr oportion of senescence modes were observed; bending decreased, folding and wilting increased. Frequencies of bending, folding, and wilting w ere compared to vase life means for 10 progenies. Proportion of bendin g generally decreased as vase life increased.