Journal of
ISSN 0972-1045
Vol. 18, No. 1, January-April, 2016
Applied
Appl Hort
Horticulture
Journal of
THE SOCIETY FOR ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE
JOURNAL OF APPLIED HORTICULTURE
Vol. 18, No. 1, Januar y-April, 2016
CONTENTS
Further characterization of the action of pyridinedicarboxylic acids: multifunctional flower care
agents for cut flowers of spray-type carnation
—Shigeru Satoh, Yoshihiro Nomura, Shigeto Morita, and So Sugiyama (Japan)
3
Prohexadione-Ca provokes positive changes in the growth and development of habanero pepper
—H. Ramírez, J. Mendoza-Castellanos, L.J. Ramírez-Pérez, J.H. Rancaño-Arrioja
and M.G. Zavala-Ramírez (Mexico)
7
Assessing the influence of energy cost and other factors on profitability of greenhouse
businesses in Tennessee
—Hiren Bhavsar, Fisseha Tegegne and Krisden Ingram (USA)
12
Postharvest behaviour of minimally processed watercress
—V.R. Logegaray, D. Frezza, A. Chiesa and A.P. León (Argentina)
16
Aroma profiling of jasmine (Jasminum sambac Ait.) flowers using electronic nose technology
—X. Alex Isac, K.R. Rajadurai, M. Jawaharlal, K. Arul Mozhi Selvan, D. Uma, Hena Roy
and Nabrun Bhattacharyya (India)
19
Genetic diversity assessment in Jasminum species using Amplified Fragment Length
Polymorphism
—K.S. Nirmala, B.V. Champa and A.P. Mallikarjuna Gowda (India)
25
Morphological characterization of herbaceous Phyllanthus spp. from Kerala
—Shafna Kalarikkal, P.S. Udayan and M. Asha Sankar (India)
30
Optimizing the initial steps of immature endosperm culture of seeded
banana (Musa sapientum L.) cultivar ‘Bhutia’ of Bangladesh
—P.R. Paul, A.H.K. Robin and M.R. Hossain (Bangladesh)
34
A rapid screening method for salt stress tolerance of onion genotypes
—Fatih Hanci, Esra Cebeci and Ayse Fidanci (Turkey)
39
A new and simple baiting technique for easy isolation of Phytophthora palmivora Butl.
from bud rot affected tissue of coconut
—K.M. Sharadraj and R. Chandra Mohanan (India)
44
Population distribution of Helicotylenchus species on Parkia biglobosa (Jacq) Benth
and its association with some horticultural crops in Southern Guinea Savanna
Ecological Zone of Nigeria
—F.Y. Daramola (Nigeria)
48
Rose rootstocks position and auxins affect grafting take of ‘Inca’
—Millicent Adhiambo Otiende, Julius Omondi Nyabundi and Kamau Ngamau (Kenya)
54
Effect of plant density on mini-tuber production potential of potato varieties
through micro-plants under net-house in North Eastern Himalayan region
—A.K. Srivastava, S.K. Yadav, L.C. Diengdoh, R. Rai and T.K. Bag (India)
61
Assessment of genetic diversity in cucumber varieties using RAPD markers
—Mahbube Someh, Ghaffar Kiani, Gholam Ali Ranjbar and Seyyed Mohamad Alavi (Iran)
64
Impact of seed priming on vigour in onion (Allium cepa L.)
—C.N. Muruli, K. Bhanuprakash and B.C. Channakeshava (India)
68
Effect of chemicals and physical means on harvesting span, yield and quality of
litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) cv. Rose Scented
—M. Pal, R.L Lal, P. Nautiyal and P. Joshi (India)
71
Media standardization for pre-hardening and hardening of in vitro regenerated
plantlets of gerbera cultivars
—S.K. Patra and S. Beura (India)
76
PCR mediated detection of sex and PaLCuV infection in papaya - A review
—Sangeeta Saxena, Vijay K. Singh and Saurabh Verma (India)
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
80
Journal
Journal of Applied Horticulture, 18(1): 3-6, 2016
Appl
Further characterization of the action of pyridinedicarboxylic
acids: multifunctional flower care agents for cut flowers of
spray-type carnation
Shigeru Satoh1*, Yoshihiro Nomura1, Shigeto Morita2,3 and So Sugiyama2
Faculty of Agriculture, Ryukoku University, Otsu 520-2194, Japan. 2Graduate School of Life and Environmental
Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto 606-8522, Japan. 3Kyoto Prefectural Institute of Agricultural
Biotechnology, Seika Town, Kyoto 619-0224, Japan. *E-mail: ssatoh@agr.ryukoku.ac.jp
1
Abstract
Pyridinedicarboxylic acid (PDCA) analogs accelerate flower opening and retard senescence, which markedly extend the vase life of
spray-type ‘Light Pink Barbara (LPB)’ carnation. In the present study, we characterized the activity of these chemicals to develop
a novel flower care agent for a practical use. A representative PDCA analog 2,4-PDCA is effective in a wide range of spray-type
carnation cultivars, ‘Barbara’, ‘Beam Cherry’, ‘Candle’, ‘Collin’, ‘Rascal Green’ and ‘Scarlet Ostara’, as well as ‘LPB’ and ‘Mule’.
Treatment of ‘LPB’ flowers for the initial 24 h with 2,4-PDCA at 5 and 10 mM was almost as effective as the continuous treatment
with the chemical at 2 mM.
Key words: pyridinedicarboxylic acids, spray-type carnation, carnation cultivars, flower bud, time to flower opening, vase life, gross
flower opening
Abbreviations: ACC, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate; FONS, fully-open and non-senescent; LPB, Light Pink Barbara; PDCA,
pyridinedicarboxylic acid.
Introduction
Carnations are popular cut flowers and of highest economic
importance in the floriculture industry in many countries. They
are classified into standard and spray-type. The standard-type
carnations have only one flower per stalk (stem), whereas the
spray-type carnations have a main stalk with several offshoots,
each having one or two flowers at the tip (inflorescence), making
a plant with multiple flowers on a stalk, as a whole.
During the senescence of carnation flowers, a climacteric increase
in ethylene production occurs, and the evolved ethylene induces
in-rolling of petals, resulting in wilting of whole flowers (Abeles
et al., 1992; Satoh, 2011). The effect of ethylene on flower
senescence can be diminished by treatment with inhibitors of
ethylene biosynthesis or action, as discussed by Satoh et al.
(2014). Treatment with these inhibitors prolongs the vase life
of cut carnation flowers as well as other ethylene-sensitive
ornamental flowers.
Vlad et al. (2010) reported that 2,4-pyridinedicarboxylic acid
(2,4-PDCA) inhibited ethylene production in detached flowers
of ‘White Sim’, which is a standard-type carnation, and delayed
senescence of the flowers. They hypothesized that 2,4-PDCA
inhibited 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) oxidase
by competing with ascorbate, a co-substrate of the enzyme
action. Then, Fragkostefanakis et al. (2013) showed that 2,4PDCA inhibited the in vitro activity of ACC oxidase prepared
from tomato pericarp tissues. This observation supported the
hypothesis that 2,4-PDCA inhibits ACC oxidase action by
competing with ascorbate in carnation flowers.
Satoh et al. (2014) confirmed that 2,4-PDCA inhibited ACC
oxidase action using a recombinant enzyme produced in
Escherichia coli cells from the carnation ACC oxidase gene
(DcACO1 cDNA). They also showed that 2,4-PDCA treatment
significantly prolonged the vase life of cut ‘Light Pink Barbara
(LPB)’ and ‘Mule’ carnation flowers, both of which belong to
the spray type, from the percentage of open flowers to the total
number of initial flower buds (Satoh et al., 2005). Then, Sugiyama
and Satoh (2015) evaluated the activity of 2,4-PDCA and its
five analogs (2,3-, 2,5-, 2,6-, 3,4- and 3,5-PDCAs) to accelerate
flower opening by determining the number of days to flower
opening, in addition to their activity to extend the vase life of cut
flowers of ‘LPB’ carnation. All six chemicals accelerated flower
opening and extended vase life, although the effects varied with
the chemical. They concluded that 2,3-PDCA and 2,4-PDCA
were useful. Recently, Sugiyama et al. (2015) showed that PDCA
analogs increased the number of open flowers according to their
criterion ‘gross flower opening’. Satoh et al. (2014) suggested
that gibberellin (GA) was involved in the promotive effect of 2,4PDCA on flower opening in cut flowers of spray-type carnation,
because 2,4-PDCA is a structural analog of 2-oxoglutarate
(2-OxoGA) (Vlad et al., 2010), and the latter acts as a co-substrate
of enzymes responsible for GA biosynthesis and metabolism.
The foregoing studies (Satoh et al., 2014; Sugiyama and Satoh,
2015; Sugiyama et al., 2015) demonstrated that PDCA analogs
increased the number of open flowers, accelerated flower opening,
and lengthened the vase life by retarding senescence, thereby
markedly extending of the vase life of cut flowers of ‘LPB’
carnation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of
a chemical with multiple effects on cut carnation flowers. This
novel agent, PDCA, may be applicable as a flower care agent in
the near future. In the present study, we explored the applicability
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
4
Pyridinedicarboxylic acids as flower care agents for cut flowers of spray-type carnation
of 2,4-PDCA to cut flowers of spray-type carnation cultivars,
including ‘LPB’ and ‘Mule’, and compared pulse treatment with
continuous treatment.
Materials and methods
Carnation flowers: Flowers of seven cultivars of the spray-type
carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) were used, i.e., ‘Barbara’,
‘Beam Cherry’, ‘Candle’, ‘Collin’, ‘Light Pink Barbara (LPB)’,
‘Rascal Green’ and ‘Scarlet Ostara’. Flowers at the usual
commercial stage of flowering, when the first flower out of six
to eight flower buds on a stalk was partially open, were harvested
with 65-cm-long stalks at the nursery of a commercial grower in
Miyagi prefecture, Japan. The carnation flowers were harvested
in the afternoon (in May and June 2015), immediately placed
with their cut stalk ends in tap water, and sent in the next morning
to the Faculty of Agriculture of Ryukoku University, Otsu city,
Shiga prefecture, without supply of water during transportation.
The flowers were not treated with any flower preservatives,
including silverthiosulfate (STS), after harvest. Upon arrival the
next day, the flowers were placed in plastic buckets with their
cut stalk ends in tap water under continuous light from white
fluorescent lamps (14 mmol m-2 s-1 PPFD) at 23 °C and 50-70%
relative humidity, until experiments which were started several
hours after they arrived.
Determination of the days to flower opening, the vase life and
the gross flower opening of carnation flowers treated with
PDCA: Three samples (bunches) of 5 flower stalks (trimmed
to 60-cm long), each having 5 flower buds (25 buds in total per
sample), were put in 0.9 L glass jars with their stalk end in 300
mL of test solutions (one sample per glass jar). The flowers were
kept under continuous light from white fluorescent lamps (14
mmol m-2 s-1 PPFD) at 23 °C and 50-70% relative humidity for 24
days or 30 days (‘Candle’). During this period the distilled water
(control and the samples after pulse treatment) was replaced once
a week, and test solutions were replenished as necessary in the
continuous treatment. For pulse treatment (Fig. 2), flower samples
were treated with 2,4-PDCA solutions at given concentrations
for 24 h, and kept in distilled water thereafter. Fully-open and
non-senescent (not wilted and turgid) flowers (FONS flowers), at
flower opening stages Os 6 to Ss 2 (Harada et al., 2010; Morita et
al., 2011), were counted daily and the percentage of these flowers
to the total number (25) of initial flower buds per sample was
calculated. Data are presented as changes of the percentages of
FONS flowers during 24 days. Flower samples having 40% or
more FONS flowers were regarded having display value.
The vase life of flowers is expressed by the number of days
during which the percentage of FONS flowers was 40% or more
(Satoh et al., 2014). The time to flower opening was determined
as the number of days from the start of the experiment to the
time when the percentage of FONS flowers reached 40%
(Sugiyama and Satoh, 2015). The gross flower opening was
shown by the cumulative daily percentage at 40% or more of
FONS flowers during incubation, which was shown by ‘scores’
as the unit (Sugiyama et al., 2015). The test solutions consisted
of 2,4-PDCA at 0 (control), 2, 5, 10 and 30 mM dissolved in
distilled water. The pH of these test solutions was not adjusted
and 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate at 100 mg L-1 was added to the
solutions as a germicide. The stock solution of 100 mM 2,4-PDCA
was made by dissolving 2,4-PDCA as Na-salt and adjusted at pH
7 with 1 M NaOH, and diluted with distilled water before use.
Data are shown by the mean ±SE. 2,4-PDCA was purchased from
Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd., Osaka, Japan.
Statistical analyses: Statistical analyses were carried out by
Student’s t-test or Tukey’s multiple range test using an online
statistical analysis program, MEPHAS (http://www.gen-info.
osaka-u.ac.jp/testdocs/tomocom/, July 17, 2015). Values with P
< 0.05 were considered significant.
Results and discussion
Effects of 2,4-PDCA on flower opening characteristics of
different carnation cultivars: Figure 1 shows percentage of
FONS flowers in cut ‘Barbara’ flowers treated continuously
with 0 (control) or 2 mM 2,4-PDCA. Data are shown by those
of three independent replicated samples. Each sample consisted
of 5 flower stalks with 25 initial flower buds in total. Using this
figure, we determined (1) the time to flower opening, (2) the vase
life and (3) the gross flower opening which are shown by arrows
with 1, 2 and 3. The treatment with 2 mM 2,4-PDCA tended to
shorten the time to flower opening, lengthen the vase and increase
the gross flower opening compared with the untreated control
flowers. The same experiment as in Figure 1 was conducted
using other cultivars, and the values for these three criteria for
the flower opening profile are summarized in Table 1. The time
to flower opening tended to be shortened by 2 mM 2,4-PDCA in
all the cultivars tested, although it was significantly shortened in
‘Rascal Green’ cultivar.
The vase life was significantly extended by the treatment with
2 mM 2,4-PDCA, in ‘Barbara’, ‘Candle’, ‘Collin’, and ‘Rascal
Green’. The extension of the vase life was the greatest in ‘Collin’
cultivar (1.82 fold), followed by ‘Barbara’ (1.54 fold), ‘Candle’
Table 1. Effects of 2,4-PDCA on the time to flower opening, the vase life and the gross flower opening in cut flowers of various spray-type carnation
cultivars
Cultivars
Barbara
Candle
Collin
Beam Cherry
Scarlet Ostara
Rascal Green
Time to flower opening (days)
Control
PDCA
3.7 ± 0.3
2.4 ± 0.3
2.4 ± 0.1
2.0 ± 0.2
2.8 ± 0.2
2.1 ± 0.2
6.3 ± 0.6
5.1 ± 0.5
3.0 ± 0.7
1.9 ± 0.2
9.5 ± 0.0
7.0** ± 0.5
Vase life (days)
Control
PDCA
11.2 ± 0.9
17.2** ± 0.5
16.5 ± 0.2
23.6** ± 0.2
10.0 ± 1.5
18.2** ± 0.8
10.8 ± 1.3
13.5 ± 0.9
13.1 ± 1.5
16.3 ± 0.9
9.8 ± 0.5
12.9** ± 0.1
Gross flower opening (scores)
Control
PDCA
126.7 ± 17.0
550.7** ± 26.6
429.3± 51.7
1138.7** ± 44.6
208.0 ± 31.7
713.3** ± 19.6
250.7 ± 40.7
548.0* ± 58.9
205.3 ± 19.2
534.7** ± 31.0
218.7 ± 33.7
480.0** ± 31.2
Data are shown by the mean ± SE of 3 replicated samples. * and ** show significant differences from the control by Student’s t-test at P < 0.05 and
P < 0.01, respectively.
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Fully-open
and non--senescent flowers (%)
Fully-open and non -senescent flowers (%)
Pyridinedicarboxylic acids as flower care agents for cut flowers of spray-type carnation
100
80
60
1
3
40
2
20
0
0
5
15
20
10
Days after the start of treatment
25
5
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
Days after the start of treatment
Fig. 1. Change in the percentage of fully-open and non-senescent
flowers for cut flowers of ‘Barbara’ carnation treated with 2,4PDCA. Bunches of cut flowers, each with 5 main flower stalks with
5 flowers (buds) on each stalk (25 flower buds in total), were treated
continuously with 0 (control) or 2 mM 2,4-PDCA. Three replicated
data for the control (○, □, △) and 2,4-PDCA treatment (●, ■, ▲) are
shown. The time to flower opening (1), the vase life (2) and the gross
flower opening (3) are shown by arrows with numbers.
Fig. 2. Effects of pulse and continuous treatments with 2,4-PDCA on
flower opening characteristics of ‘Light Pink Barbara’ carnation.
Bunches of cut flowers, similar to those described in the legend to Fig.
1, were treated with 2,4-PDCA at 0 (○), 5 (●), 10 (■) and 30 mM (◆)
for 24 h, then kept in water (pulse treatment). The continuous treatment
was conducted by leaving flower bunches continuously in 2 mM 2,4PDCA (□). Change in the percentage of fully-open and non-senescent
flowers is shown by the mean of 4 replicated samples.
(1.43 fold) and ‘Rascal Green’ (1.32 fold) cultivars. In ‘Beam
Cherry’ and ‘Scarlet Ostara’, the vase life was extended by
2,4-PDCA treatment, 1.25 and 1.24 fold, respectively, though
not significantly different with the control. The gross flower
opening was increased by treatment with 2 mM 2,4-PDCA in all
the carnation cultivars. The magnitude of increase in the gross
flower opening was the largest with ‘Barbara’ (4.35 fold) followed
by ‘Collin’ (3.43 fold) and 2.19 to 2.65 fold in other cultivars.
being significantly different from the control (P < 0.05 by Tukey’s
multiple range test). The continuous treatment with 2 mM 2,4PDCA shortened the time to flower opening to 4.3±0.3 days,
though not significantly different with the control.
Previous studies demonstrated the promotive effect of 2,4-PDCA
treatment on flower opening in cut flowers of ‘LPB’ and ‘Mule’
(Satoh et al., 2014). The present findings further indicate that
PDCA analogs, including 2,4-PDCA, promote flower opening
and delay senescence in a wide range of spray-type carnation
cultivars.
Comparison of the effect of 2,4-PDCA between the continuous
and pulse treatments: In previous studies (Satoh et al., 2014;
Sugiyama and Satoh, 2015), PDCA was applied to cut carnation
flowers continuously during experiments (the continuous
treatment). This procedure sometimes caused detrimental side
effects, resulting in browning of leaves or broken stalks (Sugiyama
and Satoh, 2015), probably because of excess absorption of the
chemicals. Also this procedure seems to be practically inadequate
from application perspective of the chemicals, since it would need
much labor work. Therefore, we tried to apply PDCA by a pulse
treatment, in which the flowers were treated once after harvest
for short period then kept in water. Fig. 2 shows the changes in
the percentage of FONS flowers for cut ‘LPB’ flowers treated
with 2,4-PDCA at 0, 5, 10 or 30 mM for 24 h, and thereafter left
with their stalk end in water (pulse treatment). For comparison,
the cut flowers were treated continuously with 2 mM 2,4-PDCA
(continuous treatment). The mean of 4 replicated samples each
for the control and the 2,4-PDCA-treated samples, each with 5
flower stalks having 25 initial flower buds in total, is shown.
The time to flower opening was 6.0±0.5 days in the control.
The pulse treatment with 5 and 10 mM 2,4-PDCA shortened it
to 5.0±0.7 days and 3.1±0.4 days, respectively, the latter value
The vase life in the control was 5.7±1.7 days. It was lengthened by
the pulse treatment with 2,4-PDCA at 5 mM (11.9±0.7 days) and
10 mM (14.2±0.3 days), and by the continuous treatment with 2
mM 2,4-PDCA (11.2±0.5 days), with a significant difference from
the control value. The gross flower opening score in the control
was 94.0±35.7. The pulse treatment with 5 and 10 mM 2,4-PDCA
increased the score to 335.0±28.8 and 495.0±8.5, respectively,
and the continuous treatment with 2 mM 2,4-PDCA increased
the score to 413.3±74.2.
The pulse treatment with 30 mM 2,4-PDCA severely inhibited
flower opening, resulting in browning and death of stems and
leaves. The pulse treatment with 5 and 10 mM 2,4-PDCA did not
have this adverse effect. The present results demonstrated that the
effect of pulse treatment with 5 or 10 mM 2,4-PDCA on the flower
opening characteristics was similar to or greater than that of the
continuous treatment with 2 mM 2,4-PDCA in ‘LPB’ carnation.
The present study revealed that 2,4-PDCA, probably other
PDCA analogs as well, are effective on carnation cultivars,
with spray-type flowers. These finding will help promote the
practical use of PDCA analogs. Further studies are needed on
the effect of PDCAs on cut flowers of other species with spraytype flowers, irrespective of the involvement of ethylene in the
process of flower senescence, such as Eustoma, Gypsophila, and
Alstroemeria flowers and spray-type Chrysanthemum.
References
Abeles, F.B., P.W. Morgan and M.E. Saltveit, Jr., 1992. Ethylene in Plant
Biology. 2nd ed. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
Fragkostefanakis, S., P. Kalaitzis, A.S. Siomos and D. Gerasopoulos,
2013. Pyridine 2,4-dicarboxylate down regulated ethylene production
in response to mechanical wounding in excised mature green tomato
pericarp discs. J. Plant Growth Regul., 32: 140-147.
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
6
Pyridinedicarboxylic acids as flower care agents for cut flowers of spray-type carnation
Harada, T., Y. Torii, S. Morita, T. Masumura and S. Satoh, 2010.
Differential expression of genes identified by suppression subtractive
hybridization in petals of opening carnation flowers. J. Exp. Bot.,
61: 2345-2354.
Morita, S., Y. Torii, T. Harada, M. Kawarada, R. Onodera and S. Satoh,
2011. Cloning and characterization of a cDNA encoding sucrose
synthase associated with flower opening through early senescence
in carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.). J. Japan. Soc. Hort. Sci.,
80: 358-364.
Satoh, S. 2011. Ethylene production and petal wilting during senescence
of cut carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) flowers and prolonging
their vase life by genetic transformation. J. Japan. Soc. Hort. Sci.,
80: 127-135.
Satoh, S., Y. Kosugi, S. Sugiyama and I. Ohira, 2014.
2,4-Pyridinedicarboxylic acid prolongs the vase life of cut flowers
of spray carnations. J. Japan. Soc. Hort. Sci., 83: 72-80.
Satoh, S., H. Nukui and T. Inokuma, 2005 A method for determining
the vase life of cut spray carnation flowers. J. Appl. Hort., 7: 8-10.
Sugiyama, S. and S. Satoh, 2015. Pyridinedicarboxylic acids prolong the
vase life of cut flowers of spray-type ‘Light Pink Barbara’ carnation
by accelerating flower opening in addition to an already-known
action of retarding senescence. Hort. J., 84: 172-177.
Sugiyama, S., S. Morita and S. Satoh, 2015. Three criteria for
characterizing flower opening profiles and display values in cut
spray-type carnation flowers. J. Appl. Hort.,17: 92-95.
Vlad, F., P. Tiainen, C. Owen, T. Spano, F.B. Daher, F. Oualid, N.O. Senol,
D. Vlad, J. Myllyharju and P. Kalaitzis, 2010. Characterization of two
carnation petal prolyl 4 hydroxylases. Physiol. Plant., 140: 199-207.
Received: October, 2015; Revised: November, 2015;
Accepted: December, 2015
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Journal
Journal of Applied Horticulture, 18(1): 7-11, 2016
Appl
Prohexadione-Ca provokes positive changes in the growth and
development of habanero pepper
H. Ramírez1*, J. Mendoza-Castellanos1, L.J. Ramírez-Pérez1, J.H. Rancaño-Arrioja2
and M.G. Zavala-Ramírez1
Departamento de Horticultura, 2Dirección de Investigación, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Calz. Antonio
Narro No. 1923, Saltillo, Coahuila, C.P. 25315. México. *E-mail: hrr_homero@hotmail.com
1
Abstract
In recent years, the cultivated area of habanero pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) has grown in México as a result of increasing the
culinary diet among consumers and the knowledge on its high healthy components such as antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients. The
actual worldwide demand of this vegetable requires the application of new production systems in order to increase yield per hectare
as well as to improve the fruit quality of this commodity. The use of growth retardants is an alternative for this challenge, therefore,
the effect of prohexadione-Ca (P-Ca) was evaluated on the vegetative growth, gibberellins in the stem apex, yield and antioxidants
content in ripen fruits of habanero pepper cv. ‘Jaguar’. The dosages of P-Ca were: 0, 100, 175 and 250 mg L-1 sprayed to seedlings at
one (10 days after transplanting) or two (10 and 31 days after transplanting) occasions. Results showed that P-Ca temporally reduced
growth in height and diameter of main stem. This effect was related with a reduction in the synthesis of gibberellins A1, A4 and A7 in the
apex. The fruit number and yield per plant increased with one application of P-Ca (at 175 mg L-1). The content of capsaicin and total
carotenoids showed a remarkable increment in ripen fruits when plants have received one application of P-Ca at any concentration.
Key words: Capsicum chinense Jacq., growth retardant, capsaicin, antioxidants, gibberellins.
Introduction
Vegetables such as habanero pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.)
are a rich source of vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants to
humans. These elements in addition to cereals, grains and animal
derived products, contribute to complete a dietary need for a
healthy life. In recent years, medical research has established
that fruits and vegetables given to patients through controlled
diet provide protection to diseases such as cancer, arteriosclerosis,
diabetes and liver injury (Charles, 2013). Under this expertise,
the consumption of fruits and vegetables is highly advised in
order to keep a good health and life quality (Mc Cormick, 2012).
Habanero pepper is a crop with an increasing demand in the
national and international markets. The fruit of this vegetable is
gaining importance as a result of its high minerals, flavonoids
and antioxidants content, in particular capsaicin. (Materska and
Perucka, 2005; Ouzounidou et al., 2010). It is necessary to apply
new alternative techniques which could contribute to increase
both yield and fruit quality. On these bases, contemporaneous
horticulture seeks technologies related to improve these referred
components. Among them are: crop management systems,
biotechnology and the use of bioregulators (Rademacher,
2000). Prohexadione calcium is a growth retardant used to
control the excessive vegetative growth and to improve fruit
quality in apple, pear and cherry trees (Costa et al., 2004). P-Ca
inhibits the biosynthesis of the active gibberellins A1, A4, and A7
(Rademacher, 2000). Little is known upon the effects of P-Ca on
vegetable crops. It has been suggested that P-Ca may participate
in secondary metabolite pathways linked to antioxidant status in
edible fruits (Mata et al., 2006; Rademacher and Kober, 2003;
Roemmelt et al., 2003), as well as through modifying the enzyme
system activity (Forkmann and Heller, 1999), reflected quite often
in an increase in anthocyanin and color intensity in ripen grapes
(Giudice et al., 2004). Therefore, the purpose of this work was
to evaluate the effect of prohexadione-Ca on: the diameter and
height of main stem; gibberellins at the apex; number of fruits and
yield per plant and antioxidants content in ripen fruits of habanero
pepper cv. ‘Jaguar’ under greenhouse conditions.
Materials and methods
Plant material and growing conditions: This research was
conducted in a greenhouse facility at Universidad Autonoma
Agraria Antonio Narro in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. Seedlings of
habanero pepper (C. chinense) cv. ‘Jaguar’ raised individually in
peat moss and perlite (1:1) in black plastic boxes (Steiner, 1984),
were used for this study.
Treatment application: The growth retardant prohexadione-Ca
at a concentrations of 0 (water-control), 100, 175 and 250 mg L-1
was applied with a back pack sprayer to seedlings at one (when
the plants reached eight true leaves corresponding to 10 days
after transplanting) or two (10 and 31 days after transplanting).
All P-Ca solutions included 0.1% v/v Regulaid® as a surfactant.
Horticultural evaluation: Height and diameter of main plant
stem were evaluated every 14 days between time of P-Ca spray
and the end of growing season. The number of fruits and yield
per plant was recorded at each of the four harvested times.
Endogenous gibberellins: Stem tips from control and P-Ca 175
mg L-1 plants were collected four days after the application of
prohexadione-Ca. Removed samples were kept in liquid nitrogen,
frozen, freeze-dried and ground. Later, tissue samples were
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
8
Prohexadione-Ca provokes positive changes in the growth and development of habanero pepper
analyzed for gibberellins using the gas chromatography-mass
spectrometry (GCMS) technique (Ramirez et al., 2004). Purified
extracts of tissue were dissolved in a few drops of methanol and
methylated with diazomethane. A portion of a methylated extract
was dissolved in pyridine and treated with trimethylchlorosilane
and hexamethyl disilazane. Aliquots were examined using a pye
104 GLC coupled through a silicone membrane separator to an
AEI MS30 dual beam mass spectrometer. Silanized glass columns
(213 x 0.2 cm) were packed with 2% SE-33 on 80-100 Gas Chrom
Q. The He-flow rate was 25 mL min-1, and the column temperature
was programmed from 180 to 280 °C at 20/min at 280 °C . The
MS were determined at 20 eV at a source temperature of 210 °C
and a separator temperature of 190 °C with a scan speed of 6.5
sec. per mass decade. The spectra were recorded by a DEC Linc
8 computer.
Capsaicin and carotenoids: The content of capsaicin in ripen
fruits was determined at harvest time using the technique reported
by Bennet and Kirby (1968), through which the antioxidant was
extracted from fresh tissue utilizing a series of solvents and later
measured in an spectrophotometer with 286 nm absorbance.
Whilst total fruit carotenoids content was measured with the
methodology of Tomas (1975). After organic solvent extraction
and purification, the content of total carotenoids in the tissue
sample was determined in the spectrophotometer at 454 nm and
quantity of them established using the following formula:
Fig. 1. Effect of prohexadione-Ca doses (mg L-1) on stem height growth
in habanero pepper (C. chinense Jacq.) cv. ‘Jaguar’. Each point represents
the mean of seven replicates. *Values statistically different at the Tukey´s
P=0.05 level. A= Number of applications with P-Ca.
µg carotenoids / 100 g fruit
= % Abs × 3.857 × V ×100 / W
Where: % Abs = percent of absorbance, V = measured volume
in probet, and P = sample weight in grams.
Experimental design and statistical analysis: A randomized
factorial design with seven replicates plants per treatment was
used. The results were analyzed with the PROC ANOVA (SAS
9.1, SAS Inst., Cary, NC). Significance was calculated using the
Tukey´s method.
Results and discussion
Plant growth, gibberellins and yield: The application of P-Ca
at all of the concentrations evaluated, resulted in a significant
reduction (P=0.05) of stem growth on most measuring dates (Fig.
1). At the end of the growing season, plant height in P-Ca treated
plants at 100 and 175 mg L-1 was similar to control; whereas
those with the higher P-Ca concentration remained with lower
growth. Fig. 2 shows that stem diameter increased between 65
and 100 days after transplanting in most P-Ca treatments. This
increment was significantly noticeable (P=0.05) at the end of
the stem growth in P-Ca sprayed plants with 175 and 250 mg
L-1. The treatment with prohexadione-Ca at 175 mg L-1caused
changes in the endogenous gibberellins status at the apex (Table
1). P-Ca samples showed GA9, GA20 and GA51; whilst in control
tissue GA1, GA4 and GA7 were detected. The reduction in plant
height and increment in stem diameter provoked by P-Ca (Figs.
1, 2) has also been observed in Mirador pepper (Ramirez et al.,
2010) and apple trees (Costa et al., 2004). Prohexadione-Ca has
been proven to be a strong retardant. This effect is explained in
terms of its action as an inhibitor of the synthesis of gibberellins
biologically active (Karhu and Hytönen, 2006; Rademacher,
2000). In this study, it was found that P-Ca inhibited at the apex
the synthesis of gibberellins A1, A4 and A7 (Table 1), which are
Fig. 2. Effect of prohexadione-Ca doses (mg L-1) on stem diameter
growth in habanero pepper (C. chinense Jacq.) cv. ‘Jaguar’. Each point
represents the mean of seven replicates.* Values statistically different
at the Tukey´s P=0.05 level. A= Number of applications with P-Ca.
required for shoot growth (Ramirez et al., 2003). This metabolic
gibberellin inhibition remains for a few days and its synthesis is
restored soon after (Rademacher, 2004); the behavior which may
explain the recovery in stem growth of those P-Ca treatments seen
at the end of the growing season (Fig. 1). The increment in stem
diameter seen in P-Ca treated plants (Fig. 2) has been explained
as a result of an increase in cell division followed by an increase
of assimilate flux moving into that growing tissue (Ramirez et al.,
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Prohexadione-Ca provokes positive changes in the growth and development of habanero pepper
9
Table 1. Gibberellins in stem apices of habanero pepper (C. chinense
Jacq.) cv. ‘Jaguar’ four days after being sprayed with P-Ca at 175 mg L-1
Gibberellins KRIa Principal ions and % relative intensity of base peak
Control
GA1
2651
[506(M+,100), 448(14), 377(15), 375(18)]
GA4
2488
[418(M+,21), 403(2), 400(12), 386(25), 284(100)]
GA7
2416
[416(M+,10), 193(12), 179(5), 155(13]
Prohexadione-Ca 175 mg L-1
GA9
2295
[330(M+,5), 217(37), 183(19), 159(45)]
GA20
2468
[418(M+,100), 403(17), 387(6), 375(82), 359(19)]
GA51
2507
[418(M+,4), 403(3), 386(15),371(3), 358(1)]
kovats retention index. M+ = Molecular ion.
a
2003). The effect of prohexadione-Ca on fruits and yield per plant
is shown in Table 2. The most remarkable effect on increase in
yield per plant (P=0.05) was observed when the growth retardant
was applied once at 175 mg L-1, where the fruit production
per plant was 17% above control plants. Similar behavior was
observed in the same treatment with respect to number of fruits
per plant. The fact that P-Ca at 175 mg L-1 resulted in higher
number of fruits and yield per plant, support the thesis that this
given P-Ca concentration could be the optimum for habanero
pepper plant under greenhouse conditions and also demonstrated
for apple (Guak et al., 2004) and berries (Schildberger et al.,
2011; Poledica et al., 2012). Other P-Ca concentrations used
in this study resulted in low or too high doses for this habanero
pepper commodity. The increment in fruit number and yield seen
in P-Ca treated plants may reflect that the reduction in vegetative
growth (Fig. 1) resulted in an increase in flower bud induction
by the presence of more cytokinins in the meristematic tissue
(Ramirez et al., 2010). This physiological condition also may
promote more carbohydrates moving into developing fruitlets
with a strong vascular connecting tissues which would avoid fruit
drop (Costa et al., 2004; Jordan et al., 2001; Sridhar et al., 2009).
Fig. 3. Effect of prohexadione-Ca doses (mg L-1) on capsaicin content in
fruits of habanero pepper (C. chinense Jacq.) cv. ‘Jaguar’. Each column
represents the mean of three replicates ± standard error. Values with the
same letter are statistically similar according to Tukey test at P=0.05.
Capsaicin and total carotenoids: The content of capsaicin
increased significantly (P=0.05) in fruits collected from plants
treated with any doses of prohexadione-Ca (Fig. 3). This effect
was consistently higher when any concentration of P-Ca was
sprayed only once. The highest increase in capsaicin occurred
with P-Ca at 250 mg L-1; in which the amount of the antioxidant
Table 2. Effect of prohexadione-Ca on fruit number and yield in habanero
pepper (C. chinense Jacq.) cv. ‘Jaguar’
ProhexadioneYield per plant (g)
Fruits per planty
-1
Ca (mg L )
Applications
1
2
1
2
Control
764.13bz
760.03a
138.3b
143.75a
100
774.82b
698.88a
139.5b
175.95a
175
892.57a
541.01b
176.65a
109.85b
250
714.67b
401.54c
99.55b
84.4b
VC
15.99
19.37
31.88
34.9
z
VC: Variation coefficient. Within columns values with same letter are
not statistically different at the 0.05% probability level using the Tukey´s
test. yMean of seven plants.
Fig. 4. Effect of prohexadione-Ca doses (mg L-1) on total carotenoids
content in fruits of habanero pepper (C. chinense Jacq.) cv. ‘Jaguar’.
Each column represents the mean of three replicates ± standard error.
Values with the same letter are statistically similar according to Tukey
test at P=0.05.
was double when compared with control samples. Information on
the effects of P-Ca on capsaicin in habanero pepper is scarce. It
has been proposed that the increment in fruit antioxidants such as
capsaicin after the application of P-Ca may be due to the ability
of this growth retardant to inhibit the production of cellular free
radicals (Díaz et al., 2004; Vázquez-Flota et al., 2007) which
are normally produced during fruit ripening. This metabolic
process requires the action of enzymes such as catalase and
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
10
Prohexadione-Ca provokes positive changes in the growth and development of habanero pepper
peroxidase as it has been demonstrated in apple (Rademacher,
2000). The content of total carotenoids in fruits also showed a
significant increase when the P-Ca was applied only once at any
dose and with 100 mg L-1 sprayed twice (Fig. 4). These values
represent a two fold increase when compared with control fruits.
This effect has also been observed in beans (Bekheta et al.,
2009) and oranges (Graham and Smit, 2010). The promotion of
carotenoids in the fruit by P-Ca could also be mediated through
the hypothesis previously suggested for capsaicin. The increment
in total carotenoids and capsaicin in fruits from P-Ca treated
plants is an interesting contribution as an alternative to healthy
food source since in recent years antioxidants consumption have
been related to a high food quality (Da Silva et al., 2014; Mc
Cormick, 2012), as well as for cancer, diabetes and heart diseases
protection (Howard et al., 2000; Pramanik and Srivastava, 2013;
Shaik et al., 2013).
In conclusion, increased total carotenoids and capsaicin in fruits
from P-Ca treated plants is an interesting contribution leading
to high quality food production. More research is required to
elucidate the mechanism of action by which higher carotenoid
synthesis takes place as influenced by the growth retardant.
Acknowledgements
We thank Willbur Ellis Co. WA., USA for P-Ca donation.
The authors Mendoza-Castellanos and Ramírez-Pérez thank
CONACYT Mexico for grant.
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11
Vázquez-Flota, F., M.L. Miranda-Ham, M. Monforte-González, G.
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Received: May, 2015; Revised: July, 2015; Accepted: November, 2015
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Journal
Journal of Applied Horticulture, 18(1): 12-15, 2016
Appl
Assessing the influence of energy cost and other factors on
profitability of greenhouse businesses in Tennessee
Hiren Bhavsar*, Fisseha Tegegne and Krisden Ingram
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A Merritt Blvd,
Nashville, TN 37209, USA. *E-mail: hbhavsar@tnstate.edu
Abstract
The greenhouse industry is an important sub-sector of agriculture. On average, greenhouse and nursery farms in the U.S. have 57 percent
more cash receipts than all farms (Muhammed, 2000). Tennessee cash receipts for greenhouse and nursery farms was 307 percent
above than the average in the US. However, greenhouse operations in Tennessee have declined over the years. The goal of this study
was to acquire a better understanding of energy use by greenhouse businesses in Tennessee. The latest database containing greenhouse
businesses was provided by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. A mailed survey was used to collect data that covered questions
on energy use, marketing and skill needs of the businesses. The respondents were mixed in terms of size of their operations, education
and income levels. Out of the 279 surveys, 56 were returned, resulting in a 20 percent response rate. To determine the different factors
affecting profitability of greenhouse operations, this study utilized correlation and chi-square tests using different variables. Results
indicate that profitability of greenhouse operations is influenced by the rising energy cost, economic downturn and size of operation.
The survey also indicates that growers would consider adopting alternative energy saving methods depending on their income and age.
The study shows the need to assist the growers in learning more about alternative energy saving methods and technologies. This study
is beneficial not only for greenhouse businesses but also other stakeholders including policy makers and those working with growers.
Other researchers can also undertake similar studies using the approach used here with appropriate modification.
Key words: Greenhouse, energy use, middle Tennessee, profitability
Introduction
The greenhouse and nursery industries account for about 2.5
percent of all United States farms. According to the Census of
Agriculture -by USDA, in 2012 - there were less than 100,000
greenhouse/nurseries in North America. Over the past few
decades, there have been changes in the structure, conduct,
and performance of the U.S. nursery and greenhouse industry.
These industries can be very profitable for farmers and their
communities. Yet, because of rise in energy costs, growers face
the challenge of keeping their businesses profitable. One of the
lessons learned over the years is that it is generally less expensive
to consider energy conservation measures before implementing
significant modifications to your heating system. Greenhouses in
particular are harder to keep up, due to the many costs involved.
The greenhouse structure is built to maintain proper temperature
and climate for better gardening. This allows growers to extend
their gardening season by growing plants inside when outside
weather conditions are not ideal. Structures range from small to
large buildings in an industry that has been around for more than
a hundred years. Most greenhouses are seasonal businesses with
maximum production in the spring. In Tennessee, it was reported
that greenhouses must be heated from around October through
April because Tennessee’s weather can be very unpredictable
(Trainer, 2010). Surveys have examined the present business
climate, but little has been done to understand what types of
changes are taking place and whether or not these changes are
regional in nature (Trainer, 2010). A large number of farmers
depend on this important enterprise for their livelihood. But in
recent years the business has been facing challenges due to the
economic downturn, decline in demand for many of the products
and high-energy costs. When oil prices are high, a typical
commercial greenhouse operation would experience significant
difficulty making a profit, and the industry would be in peril
(Hall, 2006). Researchers have been searching for easier ways
for greenhouse growers to save money on energy. Record low oil
prices following the early energy crisis have shifted much of the
attention away from increased self-reliance and the development
of alternative energy sources. The results of the research efforts in
the 1970s and 1980s led to substantial reductions in greenhouse
energy use. It is important to identify not only the annual or
seasonal expenses, but also the peak energy consumption amount
(Stegelin, 2007). During the winter/ summer months, greenhouse
growers spend a lot on energy costs.
The greenhouse industry is one of the biggest sub-sectors in terms
of economic output in the United States (Hall et al., 2006). The
purpose of this study was to assess the benefit of considering
alternative technologies for greenhouse businesses in Tennessee.
Some of the specific objectives were to characterize current
energy use, to examine consideration of alternative sources of
energy and to assess the effect of energy costs on profitability by
greenhouse businesses in Tennessee.
Materials and methods
For this study, primary data was collected from greenhouse
operators. Certified growers from the Tennessee Department of
Agriculture (2012) database were sent surveys in mail. There
were 279 certified greenhouse growers on that list; in which
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Influence of energy cost and other factors on profitability of greenhouse businesses in Tennessee
we chose all to be surveyed. The survey focused on four major
parts and asked general questions about the greenhouse such as
the size, years in business, future plans, and other factors that
might affect the business. Another section of the questionnaire
was designed to assess energy use and costs over the years, plans
to use alternative sources of energy, factors affecting increase
in energy cost and their effect on profitability. Other questions
focused on the demographics of the greenhouse owner such as
income, age, and education.
After getting approval from TSU’s Institutional Review Board
(IRB), the surveys were distributed via mail to 279 greenhouse
growers in Tennessee. Out of the 279 respondents, we received 56
completed mailed surveys, which gave us a 20 percent response
rate. The coded surveys were then analyzed by Microsoft Excel
and SPSS using descriptive analysis, correlations, chi-square tests
and cross-tabulations.
A series of statistical analyses were conducted using correlation
models, contingency tables, and chi-square tests. Correlation
models were used to investigate the strength of the relationship
amongst variables. Contingency tables were formatted to display
the frequency distribution of the variables. Chi-square tests were
done in order to test our assumptions of what factors directly
affected each other. Variables considered for contingency table
are size, income, energy costs, and year in the business.
Results
Table 1 provides a summary of the section averaging the
characteristics of the respondents. The table shows that 54 percent
of the growers fell in the 60 + age group and only 3 percent of the
respondents were under 30. The data also shows that a 32 percent
of the respondents had an undergraduate degree and 64 percent
had an annual income of less than $99,000 dollars.
The survey asked about the size of their business in square foot.
Fig. 1 shows the sizes of their operation. According to expert
Table 1. Summary of the characteristics of the greenhouse operators
Percentage
Age
Under 30
3
31-45
2
46-60
38
Over 60
54
Education Level
High School/ GED
21
Some College
14
Undergraduate Degree
32
Graduate Degree
25
Other
4
13
opinion by Dr. Roger Sauve, a greenhouse operating in less
than 10,000 sq-ft is considered small; 10,000- 30,000 sq-ft is
considered medium and above 30,000 sq-ft is considered a large
greenhouse. Results from the survey indicate that 61 percent of
the respondents have small operations.
Based on data collected from the survey, the respondents have
been in the greenhouse industry for an average of 24 years. In
some instances, some of the businesses have been around for
more than 100 years. Being around for an extensive period of
time is extraordinary because of the challenges they are facing
such as building maintenance/ upkeep, the economic downturn,
and the rise of energy costs. Table 2 displays the percentage of
how each factor affects the growers’ businesses. A large number
of respondents chose economic downturn and high-energy costs
as the reason why their business is being affected. About 48
percent believed that economic downturn was the most important
negative effect while 38 percent felt that high-energy cost was
the most important negative factor affecting their business. A
small number of respondents (18 percent) felt that competition
and production problems were the reasons why their businesses
were being affected.
Table 2. Factors affecting the greenhouse business
Category
Economic High Energy Competition Production
Downturn (%) Cost (%) in Market (%) Problem (%)
Most
important
48.2
37.5
16.1
1.8
More
important
Important
21.4
28.6
19.6
0
19.6
8.9
23.2
8.9
Less
important
0
0
7.1
25
Least
important
3.6
3.6
12.5
21.4
Energy costs are increasing yearly with an average cost of $18,791
in 2006, which has risen to $22,895 by 2011. Forty-six percent
of the survey respondents indicated that there was decline in
profitability in the business because of increase in energy costs.
The following chart accurately displays a comparison between
annual energy cost in 2006 and in 2011.
Energy costs are the second largest cost for greenhouse owners
behind labor costs, and heating totaling to about 70 percent of
the total energy budget (Sanford, 2002). With the continuous
rise in fuel cost, the survey focuses on key variables within the
greenhouse industry that could potentially be altered to lower the
Income
99,000 or less
64
100,000 - 299,000
23
300,000 - 399,000
2
400,000 - 499,000
4
500,00 or more
2
Fig. 1. Distribution of the
respondents’ greenhouses by
size
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Fig. 2. Average energy cost of
greenhouse businesses in 2006
and 2011.
14
Influence of energy cost and other factors on profitability of greenhouse businesses in Tennessee
grower’s energy cost. The survey asked respondents to provide the
size of their greenhouse, fuel types they used within a five-year
period, and energy saving technologies they used in a five-year
period. The results from Pearson’s Correlations show that size
of the greenhouse affected the respondent’s energy cost in 2006
(ρ=0.795, p-value=0.000) and 2011 (ρ=0.825, p-value=0.000).
The respondents were also asked what fuel types they used in
2006 and what they used in 2011. Fig. 3 shows that many growers
stopped using the same fuels. A percentage of growers stopped
using kerosene (3.6 percent to 1.8 percent), propane (32.1 percent
to 30.4 percent), and oil (12.5 percent to 8.9 percent) and switched
to natural gas (26.8 percent to 30.4 percent), wood (1.8 percent to
5.4 percent), and electricity (5.4 percent to 7.1 percent).
Fig. 4. Energy saving technology used within a five- year period
percentage per greenhouse
Fig. 3. Fuel type used within a five-year period percentages per
greenhouse.
The survey also asked the respondents to share what changes
they made to their energy saving technologies. Fig. 4 shows the
percentage of energy saving technologies and how they changed
in the next 5 years. Many of the respondents that started off using
plastic walls (19.6 percent to 14.3 percent) and new coverings (3.6
percent to 1.8 percent) in 2006, switched to using energy curtains
(7.1 percent to 12.5 percent), lower temperatures (17.9 percent to
26.8 percent), efficient heaters (3.6 percent to 8.9 percent), and
new heaters (0 to 3.6 percent). Some of the greenhouse growers
found it so hard to maintain cost and decided to close down for
a portion of the year (5.4 percent to 12.5 percent) and to use less
space (1.8 percent to 3.6 percent).
The survey asked the respondents to rank how optimistic they
were about adopting a new energy source. In Fig. 5 about 25
percent of the respondents are optimistic about adopting a new
source and a little over 30 percent are not sure. Only 5 percent
were very optimistic and over 15 percent are not optimistic.
There is no evidence to suggest that age of the greenhouse grower
can affect his/her outlook on how they feel about future growth.
Fig. 6 represents how different age groups felt about expecting
to adopt new sources of energy. As indicated before, most of the
respondents were from age 45 and above. Here we see that group
Fig. 5. Optimism among respondents about adopting
a new source of energy
46- 60 were more optimistic about adopting new sources than the
respondents over 60.
Another cross-tabulation was done for income vs. impacts rise
in energy costs effect on profitability. A cross-tabulation was
performed because rise in energy cost that affected profitability
can also affect the greenhouse income range. Fig. 7 indicates that
growers that fell in the $99,000 or less annual salary had either
a significant decline or very little decline due to the increase in
energy costs.
Table 3 shows tests that shows the relationship among energy
cost, income, adoption of new energy sources and age. The test
values and p-values show that rise of energy cost was found to be
affecting the income, as expected, of the greenhouse. However,
adoption of new energy source wasn’t significantly related to
income with a p-value of 0.091. The adoption of a new energy
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Influence of energy cost and other factors on profitability of greenhouse businesses in Tennessee
15
Fig. 6. How different age groups feel about adopting new energy sources.
sources was significantly related to age of the business owner.
This result was particularly interesting since there are no previous
studies that relate age with any significant factor of a business.
The result shows that experience of the business owners play a
role in decision making.
Table 3. Chi-Square values and significance at P=0.05 level
Variables
χ2 Value
P-value
a
Effect of energy cost related to
25.627
0.042
Income
Adoption of new energy source
27.322a
0.038
related to age
Adoption of new energy source
28.862a
0.091
related to income
Results confirm the assumption that size affects the greenhouse
energy cost. It also shows the relationship between age and
adoption of a new energy source as well as the correlation between
income and the effects that energy cost had in profitability.
This study was focused on the certified growers because they
highly depend on the operation. On this list there were 279
certified greenhouse operations in the state of Tennessee. The
study analyzed the operations of greenhouse growers in the state
of Tennessee and factors affecting their energy costs. The analysis
showed that there is a high correlation between energy cost and
size of the greenhouse. Results also indicate that the rise in energy
cost directly affects profitability of the greenhouse business. Other
important factors affecting profitability were economic downturn
and cost of operation. This study also indicates that income level
and the age of the grower have a significant positive effect in the
interests of adopting new energy sources in the future.
Understanding the fundamentals of what can greatly affect
energy cost can help save greenhouse growers money in the
future. Significant efforts are required to improve knowledge of
greenhouse growers in Tennessee regarding energy cost. Findings
of this study are consistent with other studies showing greenhouse
growers have limited understanding of what factors affect their
operations the most and what factors help lower costs. To enhance
awareness there is a need to introduce different studies being done
Fig. 7. Did a rise in energy cost affect profitability for Income – Groups?
to analyze the effects of high-energy costs. It was found that a
mix of factors affected their operations.
The study relies on the people’s educated guess (survey questionsanswers) and just like any other primary data, opinions and
guesses can change with time. From a policy stand point, onetime survey has its limitations in terms of sufficient information
it can provide. Multiple surveys over time would serve as a more
accurate measure for analysis and policy recommendations.
The findings of this study can provide insights for other
researchers on energy use by greenhouse operators. Cost efficient
energy use is a key to maintaining profitability. It is also important
that growers capture opportunities to acquaint themselves with
alternative energy sources to enhance their knowledge and make
choices that will give them positive economic returns.
References
Hall, C.R., A.W. Hodges and J.J. Haydu. 2006. The economic impacts
of green industry in the United States. HortTechnology, 16: 345-353.
Muhammed, S., E. Ekanem, S.P. Singh, F. Tegegne and A. AkuleyAmenyenu, 2000. Profile of the Nursery and Greenhouse Industry
in the South. Southern Nursery Association Research Conference
Proceedings, Atlanta, GA. Vol. 45. p. 496-499.
Sanford, S. 2002. Reducing Natural Gas/ Propane use for Greenhouse
Space Heating. Rural Energy Issues, p. 4.
Stegelin, F. 2007. Economics of Renewable Energy Alternatives for
the Green Industry. Economics and Marketing. SNA Research
Conference. 52: 436-438.
Tennessee Department of Agriculture 2012. Nursery and Greenhouse
Database. TN Dept. of Agr., Nashville, TN
Trainer, T. 2010. Can renewables etc. solve the greenhouse problem?
The negative case. Energy Policy, 38(8): 4107-4114.
United States Department of Agriculture, 2007. National Agricultural
Statistics Services, Census of Agriculture, US. Dept. of Agr,
Washington, D.C.
Received: September, 2015; Revised: December, 2015;
Accepted: December, 2015
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Journal
Journal of Applied Horticulture, 18(1): 16-18, 2016
Appl
Postharvest behaviour of minimally processed watercress
V.R. Logegaray*, D. Frezza, A. Chiesa and A.P. León
Departamento de Horticultura, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. San Martín 4453 (C1417DSE)
CABA, Argentina. *E-mail: logegara@agro.uba.ar
Abstract
Watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br.) is an aquatic plant of the Brassicaceae family and used as a leafy vegetable that grows in and
around water. It is consumed raw or steamed and has a short shelf life of approximately seven days. The objective of this study was to
evaluate the postharvest behaviour of watercress minimally processed and stored at optimal storage temperature vs. market temperature.
Treatments were: shoots packed with plain film (PD961EZ, 31µm thickness) and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ±
2 ºC for 10 days. Overall visual quality, gas concentration inside the packages, chlorophyll, reducing sugar, ascorbic acid, oxalic acid
and weight loss were evaluated. At the end of the storage period overall visual quality, gas concentration and reducing sugars were
affected by storage time and temperature, whereas dehidro ascorbic, oxalic acid and weight loss were not.
Key words: Nasturtium officinale, quality, gas concentration, chlorophyll, weight loss, ascorbic acid, reducing sugar, oxalic acid
Introduction
due to chlorophylls changes (Goncalves et al., 2009).
Watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br.) is a leafy vegetable of
the Brassicaceae family that grows in and around water. Raw
watercress leaves are used as salad green or can be steamed and
consumed as a normal processed vegetable. It is a good source
of essential vitamins and minerals and beneficial phytonutrients
and it has a short shelf life (approximately seven days) that can be
extended through different techniques such as cold refrigeration
and modified atmosphere packaging (Goncalves et al., 2009).
Minimally processed products are prepared and handled to
maintain their fresh nature while providing convenience to the
consumer as ready to eat (Francis et al., 1999; Lanciotti et al.,
2004). The attractiveness and convenience of fresh-cut vegetables
are helping to bring about increased consumption of fresh
produce, but these benefits are offset by the rapid deterioration
and short shelf life of the products in the marketplace (Allende
et al., 2004).
The shelf life of a food can be defined as the time between the
production and packaging of the product and the point at which
it becomes unacceptable under defined environmental conditions.
General appearance is the most important attribute that consumers
use to evaluate the quality of fruits and vegetable, as people “buy
with their eyes” (Piagentini et al., 2005). Exposure to higher
temperatures and/or fluctuations of storage temperature produce
cumulative adverse effects on the quality of stored foods, which
is the primary cause of damage to food marketed through retail
channels. Maintaining the shelf life of watercress represents a
valuable advantage for distributors and retailers, and is also a
convenient and healthy option to the final consumer (Piagentini
et al., 2005).
The loss of quality is caused by physical and chemical changes
taking place in the product. Colour is one of the most important
attributes which affects the consumer perception, and it is also
an indicator of the vegetable pigment concentration. During
postharvest, the colour of green vegetables suffers modifications
Watercress is a major source of ascorbic acid that besides
its vitamin action, is valuable for its antioxidant effect,
stimulating the immune system and other health benefits. During
processing, distribution and storage, the ascorbic acid oxidizes
to dehydroascorbic acid which retains vitamin C activity (Cruz
et al., 2008).
The objective of this study was to evaluate the postharvest
behaviour of watercress, minimally processed and stored at
optimal storage temperature vs. market temperature (1 ºC and 8
ºC) for 10 days.
Material and methods
Watercress plants were grown in a floating system with a complete
nutrient solution, in the greenhouse of the experimental field at the
Horticultural Department of the Faculty of Agronomy, University
of Buenos Aires, Argentina (35˚ 35’ S, 58˚ 31’ W).
After transplant, plants were grown for forty five days and finally
were harvested, selected, washed and sealed in polyolefin bags:
multilayered polyolefin PD-961EZ non perforated (oxygen
permeability: 6000-8000 cm³ m² 24 h, 1 atm at 23 ºC, carbon
dioxide permeability: 19000-22000 cm³ m² 24 h, 1 atm at 23 ºC,
and water vapor transmission: 0,90 - 1,10 g 100 square inch, 24
h, 23 ºC, 100 % RH). About 35 ± 5 g of shoots cut were packed
in bags, sealed and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5
ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC (optimal storage temperature versus market
temperature) for 10 days.
The samples were taken to evaluate overall visual quality, gas
concentration (oxygen and carbon dioxide) inside the bags, total
chlorophyll and weight loss at twenty four hours after sealed and
every three days.
Overall visual quality (OVQ) was evaluated using a scale of
9 to 1, where 9 = excellent and 1 = unusable, a score of 6 was
considered as the limit of commercial acceptability (LópezGálvez et al., 1996).
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Postharvest behaviour of minimally processed watercress
17
Oxygen (%) and carbon dioxide (%) concentration inside the
packages were analyzed with a PBI-Dansensor Gas Analyzer
Checkmate 9000 (Denmark).
Table 2. Oxygen concentration (%) evolution inside the bags for
watercress minimally processed packed in non perforated film (PD961EZ) and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC
for 10 days
Total chlorophyll content (mg 100 g-1 fresh tissue) was estimated
with a Minolta SPAD 502 according to León et al. (2010).
Storage
temperature
0
1
4
7
10
Reducing sugars (mg g fresh tissue) were measured according
an adaptation of the technique developed by Somogyi-Nelson
(Nelson, 1944).
1 ± 0.5 ºC
21 f
20.4 ef
19.2 cd
18.9 bc
19.2 cd
8 ± 2.0 ºC
21 f
19.9 de
18.7 bc
18 ab
17.2 a
Dehidroascorbic acid (mg g-1 fresh tissue) was measured with
a spectrophometric method according to Vicente et al. (2006).
Table 3. Carbon dioxide concentration (%) evolution inside the bags
for watercress minimally processed packed in non perforated film (PD961EZ) and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC
for 10 days
-1
Weight of bags was recorded initially and after storage; the
difference was used to calculate weight loss percentage (León
et al., 2009).
Days after packaging
Different letters means significant difference (P<0.05)
Storage
temperature
Days after packaging
0
1
4
7
10
Oxalic acid (mg g-1 fresh tissue) was analyzed according to the
procedure descripted by Conesa et al. (2009).
1 ± 0.5 ºC
0.03 a
4.1 f
3.9 ef
2.9 bc
2.8 b
8 ± 2.0 ºC
0.03 a
4.1 f
3.5 de
3.2 bcd
3.2 cd
An experimental design completely randomized was used; the
experimental unit was each bag. The data obtained were subjected
to an analysis of variance using SAS statistical program 8.5 and
later for media comparisons of each treatment the Tukey test (P=
0.05) was used. For the analysis of the overall visual quality non
parametric methods according to Friedman was used.
Different letters means significant difference (P<0.05)
Results and discussion
Overall visual quality (OVQ): Overall visual quality was
significantly affected by storage time and temperature. OVQ
declined during storage period and quality losses were mainly
attributed to wilting and yellowing (Table 1).
Table 1. OVQ for watercress minimally processed packed in non
perforated film (PD-961EZ) and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ±
0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC for 10 days
Storage
temperature
1 ± 0.5 ºC
8 ± 2.0 ºC
0
9a
9a
Days after packaging
1
4
7
9a
8a
8a
9a
8a
7 ab
10
6b
3c
Different letters means significant difference (P<0.05)
At the end of postharvest, the best quality was obtained for
watercress minimally processed and stored at 1 ± 0.5 ºC. Overall
visual quality was below the commercial limit of acceptability
when watercress plants were stored at 8 ± 2 ºC for 10 days.
Gas concentration inside the bags: Gas concentration inside the
non perforated bags was affected by storage time and temperature
(Table 2 and 3).
During storage period oxygen concentration decreased while
carbon dioxide concentration increased as a consequence of
the respiratory process. Gas concentration inside the bags is a
consequence of a dynamic and interactive process among external
environment, the permeability of the packaging material, the
internal atmosphere inside the bags and the product itself (León
et al., 2009).
Chlorophyll content: Total chlorophyll content was affected
by storage time and temperature (Table 4). At the end of the
storage period, total chlorophyll was higher when watercress
minimally processed was stored at 1 ± 0.5 ºC. This parameter is
very important because these pigments are responsible for the
Table 4. Total chlorophyll content ( mg 100 g -1 fresh tissue) for
watercress minimally processed packed in non perforated film (PD961EZ) and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC
for 10 days
Storage
temperature
1 ± 0.5 ºC
8 ± 2.0 ºC
0
36.4 b
36.4 b
Days after packaging
1
4
7
38.6 b
41.7 b
40.2 b
38.7 b
38.5 b
35.9 b
10
37 b
24.3 a
green color and it is one of the major attributes which affects the
consumer perception of quality (Francis, 1999).
The loss of chlorophyll is responsible for the yellowing of fresh cut
products and is the result of disruption of compartmentalization
that occurs when cells are broken, allowing substrates and
oxidases to come in contact (Tavarini et al., 2007).
Reducing sugars: Significant differences were obtained for
reducing sugars at the end of the storage period. Lower values
obtained when plants were stored at 8 ± 2 ºC could be due to an
increase in the respiration rate estimated through high oxygen
depletion inside the bags.
Table 5. Reducing sugar concentration ( mg g -1 fresh tissue) for
watercress minimally processed packed in non perforated film (PD961EZ) and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC
for 10 days
Storage
temperature
1 ± 0.5 ºC
8 ± 2.0 ºC
0
10.6 cd
10.6 cd
Days after packaging
1
4
7
11.5 cd
9.6 bc
9.5 bc
11.3 cd
7.0 ab
8.4 abc
10
12.9 d
5.5 a
Different letters means significant difference (P<0.05)
Dehidro ascorbic acid: At the end of postharvest, dehidro
ascorbic acid content of watercress minimally processed and
stored at 1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC for 10 days did not differ
significantly.
Watercress minimally processed presents higher contents of
dehidro ascorbic than most commonly consumed vegetables
(peas 31-26 mg 100 g-1; green beans 25-100 mg 100 g-1; carrots
4 mg 100 g-1; spinach 31-22 mg 100 g-1) (Cruz et al., 2009). This
result demonstrates that watercress is a good vitamin C source
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
18
Postharvest behaviour of minimally processed watercress
Table 6. Dehidro ascorbic acid concentration (mg g-1 fresh tissue) for
watercress minimally processed packed in non perforated film (PD961EZ) and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC
for 10 days
Storage
Days after packaging
temperature
0
1
4
7
10
1 ± 0.5 ºC
3.9 a
5.6 ab
8.5 b
6.4 ab
6.4 ab
8 ± 2.0 ºC
3.9 a
6.8 ab
6.2 ab
5.9 ab
6.4 ab
Different letters means significant difference (P<0.05)
and an important vegetable for the human diet.
Weight loss: This parameter was significantly affected by storage
time (Table 7). At the end of the storage period weight loss
were lower than 1 % and these results could be due to the very
high relative humidity inside the bags. These results agree with
Hong and Kim (2004) for green onion who reported that nonperforated film acts like a water vapor barrier reducing weight
loss of products.
Table 7. Weight loss (%) for watercress minimally processed packed in
non perforated film (PD-961EZ) and stored in refrigerated chambers at
1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC for 10 days
Storage
temperature
1 ± 0.5 ºC
8 ± 2.0 ºC
0
0a
0a
Days after packaging
1
4
7
0a
0a
0.3 ab
0a
0.2 ab
0.2 ab
10
0.3 ab
0.7 b
Different letters means significant difference (P<0.05)
Oxalic acid: At the end of the storage period oxalic acid content
remained constant (Table 8) although at 1 ± 0.5 ºC it has a
tendency to increase and this response is similar with those
reported by Merry Evelyn et al. (2003) for spinach stored at
dark who found increases of oxalic acid content after 24 days
of storage.
Table 8. Oxalic acid content (mg g-1 fresh tissue) for watercress
minimally processed packed in non perforated film (PD-961EZ) and
stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5 ºC and 8 ± 2 ºC for 10 days.
Storage
temperature
1 ± 0.5 ºC
8 ± 2.0 ºC
0
171 a
171 a
Days after packaging
1
4
7
203 a
188 a
221 a
203 a
193 a
221 a
10
231 a
170 a
Different letters means significant difference (P<0.05)
PD 961EZ film was suitable for preserving watercress quality at
1 ± 0.5 ºC for ten days. The overall visual quality was maintained
above the limit values of commercial acceptability. If the product
was stored at higher temperature, the overall visual quality was
below the limit of acceptability by the consumers, mainly due
to significant yellowing that could be explained by the lower
values of total chlorophyll recorded at the end of storage. Gas
concentrations inside the bags were significantly affected by
storage time and temperature. At the end of the storage, reducing
sugar and total chlorophyll content were affected by temperature,
while, oxalic, dehidro ascorbic acid and weight loss were not.
References
Allende, A., E. Aguayo and F. Artés, 2004. Quality of commercial fresh
processed red lettuce throughout the production chain and shelf life.
International Journal Food Microbiology, 91: 109-117.
Conesa, E., D. Niñirola, M.J. Vicente, J. Ochoa, S. Bañon and J.A.
Fernandez, 2009. The influence of nitrate/ammonium ratio on yield
quality and nitrate, oxalate and vitamin C content on baby leaf
spinach and bladder campion plants grown in a floating system. Acta
Hortulturae, 843: 269-274.
Cruz, R.M.S., M.C. Viera and C.L.M. Silva, 2008. Effect of heat and
thermosonication treatments on watercress (Nasturtium officinale)
vitamin C degradation kinetics. Innovative Food Science Emerging
Technologies, 9: 483-488.
Cruz, R.M.S., M.C. Viera and C.L.M. Silva, 2009. Effect of cold chain
temperature abuses on the quality of frozen watercress (Nasturtium
officinale R. Br.). Journal Food Engineering, 94: 90-97.
Francis, F.J. 1999. Quality as influenced by colour. Food Quality
Preference, 6: 149-155.
Goncalves, E.M., R.M.S. Cruz, M. Abreu, T.R.S. Brandao and C.L.M.
Silva, 2009. Biochemical and colour changes of watercress
(Nasturtium officinale R. Br.) during freezing and frozen storage.
Journal Food Engineering, 93: 32-39.
Hong, S. and D. Kim, 2004. The effect of packaging treatment on the
storage quality of minimally processed bunched onions. International
Journal Food Science Technology, 39: 1033-1041.
Lanciotti, R., A. Gianotti, F. Patrignani, N. Belletti, M.E. Guerzoni,
and F. Gardini, 2004. Use of natural aroma compounds to improve
shelf-life and processed fruits. Trends in Food Science Technology,
15(3): 201-208.
León, A., G. De Santibañes, V. Logegaray, A. Chiesa and D. Frezza,
2010. Berro de agua (Nasturtium officinale R.Br.): Estimación
no destructiva del contenido de clorofila. Resúmenes del XXXIII
Congreso Argentino de Horticultura, 28 de setiembre al 1 de octubre,
Santa Fe, Argentina, p.304.
León, A., D. Frezza and A. Chiesa, 2009. Effect of nutrient solution
composition and storage conditions on postharvest of minimally
processed butterhead lettuce. Advances Horticultural Science,
23(1): 13-19.
López-Gálvez, G., M. Saltveit and M. Cantwell, 1996. The visual quality
of minimally processed lettuces stored in air or controlled atmosphere
with emphasis on romaine and iceberg types. Postharvest Biology
Technology, 8:179-190.
Merry Evelin, A.T., U.Yoshinori, I. Yoshihiro and A. Mitsuko, 2003.
L-ascorbic acid metabolism in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.)
during postharvest storage in light and dark. Postharvest Biology
Technology, 28: 47-57.
Nelson, N. 1944. A photometric adaptation of the somogyi method for the
determination of glucose. Journal Biology Chemistry, 153: 375-380.
Piagentini, A.M., J.C. Mendez, D.R. Guemes, and M.E. Pirovani, 2005.
Modeling changes of sensory attributes for individual and mixed
fresh-cut leafy vegetables. Postharvest Biology Technology, 38:
202-212.
Tavarini, S., D. DeglInnoceti, A. Pardossi and L. Guidi, 2007.
Biochemical aspects in two minimally processed lettuce upon
storage. International Journal Food Science Technology, 42: 214219.
Vicente, A., G.A. Martínez, A. Chaves and M. Civello, 2006. Effect of
heat treatment on strawberry furit damage and oxidative metabolism
during storage. Postharvest Biology Technology, 40: 116-122.
Received: October, 2015; Revised: November, 2015;
Accepted: December, 2015
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Journal
Journal of Applied Horticulture, 18(1): 19-24, 2016
Appl
Aroma profiling of jasmine (Jasminum sambac Ait.) flowers
using electronic nose technology
X. Alex Isac1*, K.R. Rajadurai1, M. Jawaharlal2, K. Arul Mozhi Selvan3, D. Uma4, Hena Roy5
and Nabrun Bhattacharyya5
Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. 2Horticultural College &
Research Institute for Women, Navalur Kutapattu, Trichy, India. 3Department of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. 4Department of Biochemistry, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Tamil
Nadu Agricultural University, India. 5Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Kolkata, India.
*E-mail: senthamil.alex@gmail.com
1
Abstract
The Jasmine (Jasminum sambac Ait.) flowers are highly fragrant and used for extraction of essential oil, preparation of perfumes and
scented water. Since there is a growing demand for the fresh flowers, there arises a need to develop a technique to identify the flower
quality in non-destructive and quickest possible manner. A study was undertaken using hand held electronic nose technology (HEN)
at the Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during the year 2013-2015. The
result showed that, the HEN device generated Aroma Index (AI) score increased over the flower development stages and varied from
0.41 in immature bud (stage I) to 4.26 in matured bud (stage V). The comprehensive study on quantum of fragrance releasing pattern
at different flower opening stages (physiologically matured bud to fully opened flower) over period of time interval showed that,
minimum of 5.41 was recorded in an unopened closed bud stage which gradually increased upto 41.26 in the fully opened flowers.
The biochemical constituents responsible for the unique jasmine flower fragrance were identified using Gas Chromatography –Mass
Spectrometry (GC-MS).
Key words: Jasminum sambac, electronic nose, MOS, volatile emission
Introduction
Jasmine occurrences are distributed in tropical and subtropical
ecologies around the world. Jasmines are grown commercially
in India, Thailand, China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines for its
fresh flowers. The genus Jasminum contains more than 200
species and is mostly tropical in distribution (Abdul Khader
and Kumar, 1995). Though there are a large number of species
and varieties in jasmine, commercial cultivation is confined to
only a very few, viz., Jasminum sambac, J. auriculatum and J.
grandiflorum, which are largely cultivated and J. multiflorum
(Syn: J. pubescence ) which is cultivated to a small extent. The
flowers are highly fragrant and used for religious offerings in
temples and highly preferred by ladies for adorning their hair.
They are also used for extraction of essential oil which is used
in the preparation of perfumes and scented water. The jasmine
concrete is highly valuable for perfume, confectionaries,
cosmetics and toiletry industries.
Advancement of chemical and instrumental research in revealing
the fragrance compounds in nature and also in synthesizing those
components in laboratory has been achieved to some extent.
The natural odor of the flowers are perfect and unchanged,
cannot be completely extracted and analysed. There are various
methods of analyzing these natural extract from flowers. Till date
these fragrance estimation were mostly by subjective methods
performed by panel of skilled persons. The analysis had been
done through instruments like chromatography, spectrography
etc., by trained operator.
To simplify the fragrance estimation, portable and reliable tools
are required. So far, a specially designed Electronic Nose has
been successfully used to monitor volatile substances emission
pattern over repeated measurements. Electronic Nose is a unique
tool that is capable of sensing the volatile compounds of the
given sample and reliably predicts scores with a high degree of
accuracy. Neural Network based Soft Computing Techniques
are used to tune near accurate correlation smell print of multisensor array. The software framework has been designed with
adequate flexibility and openness, so that may train the system
of scoring with reliable predictions of such smell print scores.
Since there is a growing demand for the fresh flowers, there
arises a need to develop a technique to identify the flower quality
in non-destructive and quickest possible manner. These kind of
technique would facilitate export of these flowers to both short
and long distance overseas markets without much loss of the
post harvest quality.
Materials and methods
The experiment was undertaken at the Department of Floriculture
and Landscaping, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore
in collaboration with Centre for Development and Advanced
Computing (C-DAC), Kolkata during the year 2013-2014. The
experimental material consisted of flowers of major species
of Jasmine i.e., J. sambac was used. The experiment was laid
out in Completely Radomized Block Design (CRD) with three
replications.
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
20
Aroma profiling of jasmine flowers using electronic nose technology
Fresh flowers (unopened fully matured flowers) from J. sambac
were collected from randomly selected plants in the early morning
hours around 5 am to 6 am during the entire period of study. The
harvesting stages were classified based on the visual appearance
of the flower bud. The different stages of harvesting are given
in Table 1. Observations of E-nose generated Aroma Index (AI),
ethylene emission rate and respiration rate was recorded for each
stage of harvesting.
Table 1. Different harvesting stages of J. sambac flowers
Stage of harvest
Age of flower bud (days)
Stage I
5
Stage II
8
Stage III
10
Stage IV
12
Stage V
15
The matured unopened buds were harvested from the randomly
selected plants. The flower buds were continuously observed
using E-nose till it opened fully (i.e., from morning to late
evening). Postharvest physiological parameters such as E-nose
generated Aroma Index (AI), CO2 rate and ethylene emission
rate were recorded at 10.00 am, 4.00 pm, 6.00 pm, 7.00 pm and
8.00 pm. The E-nose generated Aroma Index (AI) values for the
above parameters were analysed statistically and least significant
difference was applied to compare the differences among different
time intervals at 5% as critical level of probability (α). The flower
opening index was categorized based on the values in flower
opening index chart (Table 2).
Identification of different fragrances was performed by using
electronic nose, equipped with a metal oxide semiconductor
sensor (MOS). E-nose has a great potential to discriminate
fragrances and would be a useful tool for the fragrance of
ornamentals.
Electronic Nose system for gradation of jasmine based on aroma
characteristics comprised of two main components (i) The
Sniffing Unit and (ii) Data Processing Unit. The sniffing unit
consists of the sensory and sensing unit. The sniffing unit is the
odor capture and delivery system to the sensor array and the data
processing unit is responsible for data acquisition from the sensor
array through a proper signal conditioning circuit and the acquired
data is processed to generate and display the Fragrance Index.
The experimental sniffing cycle consists of automated sequence
of internal operations: (i) headspace generation, (ii) sampling,
(iii) purging before the start of the next sniffing cycle. Initially
these MOS sensors require heating for at least one hour to be
stable. Heating is done by supplying 5 Volts to the heater coils
of the sensors. This heating phase of sensors is referred to as Preheating. The MOS sensors react to volatile compounds on contact;
the adsorption of volatile compounds on the sensor surface causes
a physical change of the sensor.
Table 2. Flower Opening Index chart of jasmine flowers (J. sambac) at
different flower opening stages
Flower opening index
Flower opening pattern
0
Un-open bud
0.5
Nearly slight open
1.0
Slightly open
1.5
Nearly half open
2.0
Half open
2.5
Nearly full open
3.0
Fully open
Principle of operation: The samples to be tested were placed
in a sample holder (be specific) in the E-Nose set-up. Data was
recorded separately for flowers and buds. It has been observed that
the system was able to identify the bud and also the blossoming
state of Jasmine.
Air flow was blown into the sample container as pressure applied
in time scale of second in order to ensure adequate concentration
of volatiles in the air within the container. In the same time scale,
output voltage was recorded with sensor when exposed to volatile
substance influences. The time specified in seconds, for which the
sensor array is exposed to fresh air in order to reestablish baseline
values of the sensors. Due to the strong scent of jasmine, it is
recommended that a purging time of at-least 15 minutes be used.
The sensor array was exposed to a constant flow of volatiles
emanated from Jasmine flower at time duration of 50 seconds.
Data from all the sensors were stored all through this sampling
operation, but the steady-state value for each sensor is considered
for computation purposes. During the purging operation of 100
secs, sensor heads were cleared through the blow of air so that
the sensors can go back to their baseline values.
Data acquisition module: Sensor outputs were fed to this
module. After signal conditioning, the channels were multiplexed
and were fed to an data acquisition card. The DAQ output was
fed to the processor for analysis and storage.
Flower opening index (FOI): The fragrance emission was
determined during fresh flowers opening period which is under
influence of their development stage varying from Stage I to
stage V. There were significant differences in opening of flower
from tight bud stage to fully opened condition as in V stage. The
various flower opening indices recorded at different time intervals
were categorized (Table 3).
Soxhlet extraction: The compounds responsible for fragrance
emission in fully opened jasmine flowers were detected through
the concrete extracted using Soxhlet extractor. The fresh samples
of about 20 g were taken in the extraction chamber placed in a
tube above the extraction solvent. The solvent used was food
grade hexane (analytical reagent) to wash the sample using a
reflux apparatus. When heated, the solvent evaporates into a gas,
and then cools into a liquid in a condenser. It then refluxes back
into the sample tube. This continuous cyclic process takes around
45 to 60 minutes per cycle until the concrete is separated from
the sample. The solvent was evaporated off, by keeping it in the
water bath and the amount of concrete was determined.
Gas chromatography: Later the extracted concrete samples at
different interval of time were subjected to Gas Chromatography
–Mass Spectrometry analysis. About one micro litre of sample
concentrate was injected into a Thermo GC - Trace Ultra Ver:
5.0,Thermo MS DSQ II gas chromatograph equipped with a
flame ionization detector. The column used was DB 35 - MS
Capillary Standard Non - Polar Column. The specifications of
Gas Chromatography used for analysis; Column: 50m × 0.25mm
internal diameter (i.d.) coated with PEG 20 M, film thickness:
0.15 pm, Carrier gas: N, with a flow rate at 1.2 mL/min, oven
temperature: 60°C (4 min) + 220°C, injection and detector
temperature: 200°C Split ratio: 10: l
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Aroma profiling of jasmine flowers using electronic nose technology
Results and discussion
Fragrance parameters estimation at various development stages
of flowers were recorded and given in the Table 3 and Table 4.
Time taken for flower opening is an important character, which
signifies the earliness or late flowering habit of the genotype.
Both the habits are helpful in determining the availability of flowers
for longer period (Khader and Kumar, 1995).
It was observed that there was no ethylene evolution observed till
stage III while it was triggered up to 1 ppm during the stage IV.
Then after, ethylene was released up to 3.2 ppm after Stage V of
harvest. Under ambient conditions, ethylene evolution rate with
the range of 2.0 ppm and 22.8 ppm after harvest of fresh flowers
at different time intervals were observed in fully matured opened
flower (Table 4). The results indicated that the rate of ethylene
evolution increased rapidly after harvest upto 16 hours, after
which the senescence of flower starts (Fig. 2). Similar results
were observed by Mayak and Halevy (1974), Suttle and Kende
(1978, 1980) and Borochov et al. (1997). Also it was observed
that as the flowers started showing symptoms of wilting, there
was a rise in level of ethylene emission rate.
The E-nose generated Aroma Index (AI) of jasmine flowers
during different flower developmental stages were observed and
it varied from 0.41 in I stage, 0.83 in II stage, 1.58 in III stage,
2.53 in IV stage to 4.26 in V stage. It clearly indicates that the
Metal oxide Sensor (MoS) used in the E-nose instrument, sniffed
the compounds responsible for fragrance and generated the Aroma
Index (AI) as the stage of harvesting progressed. Fully matured
harvested jasmine flowers were continuously observed from its
closed unopened stage to fully opened condition. Based on our
observation the E-nose generated Aroma Index (AI), gradually
Table 3. E-nose generated aroma index (AI) of J. sambac at different
flower developmental stages
Harvesting
stages
E-nose
Value (Aroma
Index)
0.41
0.83
1.58
2.53
4.26
0.02
Stage I
Stage II
Stage III
Stage IV
Stage V
SEm ±
LSD (P=0.05)
CO2 Rate
(ppm)
0
0
1.2
2.3
8.4
0.1
0.1
0.07
Ethylene
Emission Rate
(ppm)
0
0
0
1.0
3.2
0.1
0.1
Table 4. Ethylene, CO2 and Aroma Index at different Flower Opening
Index (FOI) of J. sambac
Time
*Flower
opening
index
(FOP)
10.00 am
0
04.00 pm
06.00 pm
E-nose
value
(Aroma
Index)
CO2
Rate
(ppm)
Ethylene
emission
rate
(ppm)
5.41
8.4
2.0
0.5
16.83
27.8
9.5
1
24.58
36.3
14.9
07.00 pm
2
32.53
42.6
18.6
08.00 pm
3
41.26
56.8
22.8
SEm ±
0.01
0.1
0.1
LSD (P=0.05)
0.21
0.3
0.4
21
increased from 5.41 in 10.00 am (unopend closed bud stage) to
16.83 in 4.00 pm (nearly slight open stage), 24.58 in 6.00 pm
(slightly opened stage), 32.53 in 6.00 pm (half opened) and 41.26
in 8.00 pm (fully opened). As the flower opens, the fragrance
emission is higher and the senescence of flower takes place.
Ethylene hormone has been known to play a crucial role in
senescence of flowers, the sensitivity of which varies depending
on the flower species (Redman et al., 2002). Ethylene reduces the
longevity of some flowers causing rapid wilting of petals (e.g.,
carnations), shedding or shattering of petals, or other changes to
petal tissues, such as loss or change of colour.
Earlier reports (Naidu and Reid, 1989) have indicated that the
flowers are ethylene sensitive based on the fact that though
the flowers produce moderate ethylene during opening and
senescence, they do not respond to exogenously applied ethylene
(Veen, 1983) indicating that this hormone is not involved in their
senescence. No report is available on Jasminum spp. with respect
to ethylene evolution, however some records on wilting of flowers
other than jasmine caused by ethylene have been discussed.
Involvement of ethylene in wilting of flowers (Borochov et al.,
1997) has been observed in carnation (Ten Have and Woltering,
1997) and in Gypsophila paniculata (Vandoorn and Reid, 1992).
It has also been noticed that the flower parts including petals,
sepals, the ovary and labellum were the major site of ethylene
production (Chao Chia et al., 1991) and that ethylene promoted
the accumulation of sugars and inorganic materials in the ovary,
with a simultaneous loss of fresh and dry weight of the petals.
These are some evidences of ethylene sensitive species where in,
ethylene is the major cause of wilting of flowers.
Respiration rate: The minimum respiration rate of 8.4 ppm was
observed at 10 am. It steadily increases and reached maximum
of 56.8 ppm at 8.0 pm in the evening. The respiration of flowers
started from III stage upto 1.2 ppm, followed by 2.3 ppm in IV
stage and gradually increased in V stage upto 8.4 ppm (Table 3).
All the flowers showed a climacteric rise in respiration rate after
harvest. The lowest respiration rates were recorded immediately
after harvest. This may be due to short supply of readily respirable
substrates in the flowers due to onset of senescence. Similar
results were reported by Coorts (1973) in cut flowers and Maxie
et al. (1973) in carnation. Increased respiration leads to formation
of free radicals with high oxidation potential. Free radicals
promote senescence in tissues which in turn increases sensitivity
to ethylene (Fig. 2). Respiration is the central process in living
cells that mediates the release of energy through the oxidative
breakdown of carbon compounds (starch, sugar and organic acids)
and the formation of carbon skeletons necessary for maintenance
and synthetic reactions after harvest (Wills et al., 1998). In the
present study, a respiratory climacteric rise from the initial level
and a decline thereafter was noticed with all the treatments.
With regard to J. sambac under ambient conditions a similar
trend was noticed, recording minimum respiration rate and
sufficient amount of carbohydrate levels. These significant
levels of carbohydrates might have served as the substrate for
respiration for a longer duration. Evidences supporting this fact
have been reported in case of flowers supplied with exogenous
sugar, wherein pool of dry matter and respirable substrates were
maintained at favourable levels thus promoting respiration (Coorts,
1973) and in turn extending the longevity (Rogers, 1973). The
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
22
Aroma profiling of jasmine flowers using electronic nose technology
observation of Maxie et al. (1973) that the respiratory activity in
flowers and the production of carbon-di-oxide by flowers was
similar to the pattern in climacteric fruits, characterized by a
rise in level of respiration with senescence also supports the
present study.
Kaltaler and Steponkus (1976) have associated the decline
in respiratory activity of aging rose petals with their inability
to metabolise substrates consequent to decline in activity of
mitochondria in the aging petals. Moreover, increased respiratory
activity leads to the formation of free radicals with high oxidation
potential and these free radicals have been found to promote
senescence in the tissues, associated with an increased sensitivity
to ethylene (Baker et al., 1977; Mishra et al., 1976). The typical
climacteric respiratory rise reported in carnation cv. White Sim
(Burger et al., 1986) and day-lily (Lukaszewski and Reid, 1989)
is consistent with the present result. In contrary, Trippi and Paulin
(1984) had reported a decrease in respiratory activity in carnation
cv. White Sim.
GC-MS analysis: The concrete obtained from soxhlet extractor
was injected into Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry
instrument and constituents were identified by comparison of both
mass spectra and retention indices, strictly measured on the same
instrument with those of authentic jasmine samples. The identified
constituents listed in Table 5 and Table 6 with their respective
chromatogram obtained shown in Fig. 1 and 2 exhibited
significant compounds identified at specific time intervals (10.00
am and 8.00 pm). The GC-MS chromatogram at 10 am shows,
the preliminary indication about the composition of some major
volatile components. However, the quantitative composition of
these compounds differs considerably from the other samples. The
jasmine flower possesses maximum composition and recorded
peak during this time. They are Eicosanoic acid, phenylmethyl
ester (Benzyl icosanoate) (26.47%), 9-Octadecenoic acid (Z),
phenylmethyl ester (Benzyl oleate) (24.04%), Nonadecane
(17.41%) and 2,6-Octadien-1-ol, 3,7 dimethyl-(Z)- (cis-Geraniol)
(14.24%).
Fig. 1. GC-MS Chromatogram of J. sambac extract (soxhlet extraction) at 10.00 am
Fig. 2. GC-MS Chromatogram of J. sambac extract (soxhlet extraction) at 08.00 pm
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)
Aroma profiling of jasmine flowers using electronic nose technology
23
Table 5. GC-MS analysis of J. sambac extract (soxhlet extraction) at
10.00 AM
Table 6. GC-MS analysis of J. sambac extract (soxhlet extraction) at
08.00 PM
RT
Name of the compound
RT
2.23
2,6-Octadien-1-ol, 3,7
dimethyl-(Z)- (cis-Geraniol)
2-Aminononadecane
C19H41N
Cyclooctyl alcohol
C8H16O
1-Tetracosanol
C24H50O
1-Methyldodecylamine
C13H29N
2,4,6,8-Tetramethyl-1C15H30
undecene
Octodrine
C8H19N
Heptadecane, 2-methylC18H38
1-Hexacosanol
C26H54O
Heptadecane,
C21H44
2,6,10,15-tetramethylDidodecyl phthalate
C32H54O4
Decane, 2,3,5,8-tetramethyl- C14H30
6H-Pyrazolo[1,2 a][1,2,4,5]
C7H16N4
tetrazine, hexahydro-2,3dimethyl2-Nonen-1-ol
C9H18O
Octadecane, 6-methylC19H40
2,6,10-Dodecatrien-1-ol,
C15H26O
3,7,11-trimethyl- (Farnesol)
1-Eicosanol
C20H42O
Nonadecane, 2-methylC20H42
Tetracontane, 3,5,24-trimethyl- C43H88
Nonadecane
C19H40
Octadecane, 1-(ethenyloxy)- C20H40O
1-Octadecyne
C18H34
Z,Z-2,5-Pentadecadien-1-ol
C15H28O
9-Octadecenoic acid (Z)-,
C25H40O2
phenylmethyl ester (Benzyl
oleate)
Eicosanoic acid, phenylmethyl C27H46O2
ester (Benzyl icosanoate)
MW Peak Area
(%)
154
14.24
283
128
354
199
210
1.23
0.57
1.51
0.38
1.49
129
254
382
296
0.26
0.35
1.06
0.31
2.58
3.51
10.80
14.76
15.80
16.10
17.44
18.79
502
198
156
1.07
0.76
0.67
142
268
222
0.17
0.76
0.37
22.48
22.85
23.03
298
282
604
268
296
250
224
372
0.09
1.54
0.86
17.41
0.94
2.53
0.92
24.04
23.66
24.16
25.46
26.75
28.05
28.63
28.99
402
26.47
31.42
10.44
10.82
12.45
13.92
14.76
15.80
16.10
17.39
18.79
19.49
20.09
21.48
22.44
22.79
23.01
23.79
24.13
25.40
26.67
27.95
28.67
29.47
32.51
33.60
Molecular
Formula
C10H18O
Twenty eight constituents were identified as active principles in
the jasmine samples taken at 8 pm. Major are, 9-Octadecenoic acid
(Z)-, phenylmethyl ester (Benzyl oleate) (21.01%), 1-Octadecyne
(15.35%) and Octadecanoic acid, phenylmethyl ester (Benzyl
stearate) (14.04%). The jasmine volatile compounds responsible
for its unique fragrance were released during this time.
The study on ideal harvesting stage for Jasminum sp. fresh flowers
revealed that the E-nose instrument aids in identifying the
ideal harvesting stage for fresh flower stage and suitable time
for concrete extraction. This ultimately helps in industrial
utility to identify the perfect stage and time for higher concrete
recovery. Considering the bulk of the components eluted under these
chromatographic conditions, and assuming these compounds possesses
a response for fragrance exclusive for jasmine species. The identified
constituents from jasmine concrete were responsible for their unique
fragrance.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Tamil Nadu Agricultural University
(TNAU), Coimbatore for providing the necessary facilities and the
Centre for Development and Advanced Computing (C-DAC),
Kolkata and their staff for their funding to carry out the research and
preparation of this paper.
2.21
19.48
20.16
21.14
21.51
29.51
30.47
32.76
33.63
Name of the compound
Molecular
Formula
2,6-Octadien-1-ol, 3,7 dimethyl- C10H18O
(Z)- (cis-Geraniol)
1-Octanol, 2,7-dimethylC10H22O
Cyclopropyl carbinol
C4H8O
Cyclooctyl alcohol
C8H16O
2,4,6,8-Tetramethyl-1-undecene C15H30
Octodrine
C8H19N
Heptadecane, 2-methylC18H38
1-Hexacosanol
C26H54O
Heptadecane,
C21H44
2,6,10,15-tetramethylDidodecyl phthalate
C32H54O4
Decane, 2,3,5,8-tetramethylC14H30
Octadecanoic acid,
C25H42O2
phenylmethyl ester (Benzyl
stearate)
6H-Pyrazolo[1,2 a][1,2,4,5]
C7H16N4
tetrazine, hexahydro-2,3dimethyl2-Nonen-1-ol
C9H18O
Octadecane, 6-methylC19H40
2,6,10-Dodecatrien-1-ol,
C15H26O
3,7,11-trimethyl- (Farnesol)
1-Eicosanol
C20H42O
Nonadecane, 2-methylC20H42
Tetracontane, 3,5,24-trimethyl- C43H88
Nonadecane
C19H40
Octadecane, 1-(ethenyloxy)C20H40O
1-Octadecyne
C18H34
Dodeca-1,6-dien-12-ol,
C14H26O
6,10-dimethylZ,Z-2,5-Pentadecadien-1-ol
C15H28O
Heptadecanoic acid, heptadecyl C34H68O2
ester
1,4-Dioxaspiro[4.5]decane,
C9H16O2S
8-(methylthio)9-Octadecenoic acid (Z)-,
C25H40O2
phenylmethyl ester (Benzyl
oleate)
Eicosanoic acid, phenylmethyl C27H46O2
ester (Benzyl icosanoate)
MW Peak Area
(%)
154
3.50
158
72
128
210
129
254
382
296
3.01
3.83
1.44
0.15
0.42
0.54
0.22
0.42
502
198
374
0.96
0.62
14.04
156
1.37
142
268
222
0.22
0.93
0.31
298
282
604
268
296
250
210
0.33
2.00
1.08
2.41
0.86
15.35
7.83
224
508
13.22
2.41
188
0.39
372
21.01
402
1.13
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Received: May, 2015; Revised: November, 2015;
Accepted: December, 2015
Journal of Applied Horticulture (http://horticultureresearch.net)