The involvement of ethylene in the senescence of ranunculus cut flowers

The aim of this work was to examine the involvement of ethylene in the sene scence of cut ranunculus (Ranunculus asiaticus L.) flowers of the Aviv cult ivar group. Cut ranunculus flowers produced ethylene in a climacteric-like pattern, synthesized 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) and metabo lized it. However, they were not sensitive to exogenously applied ethylene, their ACC production did not change significantly with their age, and flow er quality was not improved by treatments with aminooxyacetic acid (AOA) or silver thiosulfate (STS). Together, these results indicate that ethylene i s not an important regulator of senescence in cut ranunculus flowers. Accor dingly, no special precautions are needed to keep the flowers from contact with ethylene. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science R.V. All rights reserved.