Effect of Nitric Oxide on Postharvest Quality and Vase

Nitric oxide (no) is a highly reactive signaling molecule and playsa variety of physiological roles in plants. the research on the application ofno to postharvest preservation of flowers and fruits shows great promise inrecent years. however, the physiological mechanism of exogenous no toaffect cut flowers is not very clear, and no donor treatment protected plantsfrom damage by increasing the activity of antioxidative enzymes. therefore,an experiment was conducted to study the effect of exogenous no on thevase life and physiological basis of dianthus caryophyllus l. ‘tempo’. thepresence of the nitric oxide increased the activities of pod, while the productionof mda content and lox activity were obviously decreased. the resultsshowed that exogenous no could significantly extend the vase life of cutcarnation flowers (16.9 days). the results suggest that exogenous no coulddelay petal wilting in carination cut flowers, maintain water metabolism, theantioxidative enzymes activity and mass-eliminate reactive oxygen species(ros) and as well as cell membrane stability.