Pl. Hurst et al., SUCROSE SYNTHASE, INVERTASES, AND SUGARS IN GROWING ASPARAGUS SPEARS, New Zealand journal of crop and horticultural science, 21(4), 1993, pp. 331-336
Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) spear tips lose sucrose rapidly a
fter harvest and this probably contributes to spears' short postharves
t life. As the first step towards controlling this loss of sucrose and
possibly improving postharvest life, the activities of sucrose-cleavi
ng enzymes, and levels of sugars were measured in tips and 3 cm sectio
ns of spears from tip to butt. Sucrose was the major sugar in tips but
not in the rest of the spear. Glucose and fructose were almost equimo
lar throughout the spear and increased fivefold from tip to butt. Fruc
tose was always slightly more abundant than glucose. Sucrose synthase,
bound acid invertase, and neutral invertase activities were similar i
n both tips and spear sections. Soluble acid invertase activity in the
middle section of the spear was 4-5 times that of tips and butts. Sug
ar composition and enzyme activities in spear sections and tips were n
ot closely correlated.