ABAXIAL AND ADAXIAL SURFACES OF SPATHE TISSUE OF ZANTEDESCHIA DIFFER IN THEIR PATTERN OF RE-GREENING

Re-greening of spathe tissue is a primary determinant limiting the post harvest quality of Zantedeschia as both a cut flower and pot plant.
In the absence of any detailed description of the pattern of re-greening in Zantedeschia hybrids, the changes in spectrophotometric a/b ratio, pigment concentration and plastid differentiation in both abaxial and adaxial surface of the spathe were investigated using a model system of discs of spathe tissue.
For the cultivar ‘Best Gold’, the a/b ratio of the adaxial surface decreased over time from harvest maturity at a slower rate than that of the abaxial surface.
Re-greening in the abaxial surface of spathe tissue was concomitant with the increase in chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, while no chlorophyll was detected in adaxial surface over the 14-day period of re-greening.
For both surfaces, total carotenoids decreased as re-greening proceeded, but re-greening primarily resulted from chlorophyll masking the carotenoids present.
During development of the spathe from green-bud to fully re-greened, plastids re-differentiated from chloroplast to chromoplasts to chloroplast on the adaxial surface, while plastids differentiated from proplastid to chromoplast on the abaxial surface.

VI International Symposium on New Floricultural Crops

J. Chen, K.A. Funnell, D.J. Woolley, D.H. Lewis, J.R. Eason

Spectrophotometric a/b ratio, chlorophyll, carotenoid, cut flower, postharvest quality

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.813.28