Modulation of flower senescence in Nicotiana plumbaginifolia L. by polyamines

• Published in: Indian journal of plant physiology Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 186 - 190
• Main Authors: Nisar, Shaziya, Tahir, Inayatullah, Ahmad, Syed Sabhi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01.06.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amino acids; Biodegradation; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Distilled water; Flowers; Life Sciences; Longevity; Phenols; Plant Biochemistry; Plant Ecology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Short Communication; Sugar; Proteins; Senescence; Spermine; Putrescine; Spermidine; Sugars
• ISSN: 0019-5502; 0974-0252
• DOI: 10.1007/s40502-015-0154-7

An experiment was conducted to elucidate the effect of various polyamines on longevity of the isolated flowers of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia . Isolated flowers were harvested at brush stage (1 day before anthesis) at 08:00 h, cut to a uniform pedicel length of 1 cm and held in 10 mM concentration of polyamines, viz., putrescine, spermidine and spermine. A separate set of flowers held in distilled water designated the control. All the polyamines tested improved the flower longevity of isolated flowers of N. plumbaginifolia as compared to the control. The flowers held in spermine showed improvement in longevity by 3 days as compared to control besides; maintaining higher floral diameter, soluble protein content and α-amino acids. The flowers supplied with different polyamines maintained lower content of total phenols as compared to the control. Higher content of soluble sugars was recorded in the floral buds held in various polyamines. The flowers held in putrescine showed  maximum content of sugar fractions. The present study revealed that polyamines are effective anti-senescence agents as they retard protein degradation and maintain increased content of sugar fraction in the isolated flowers, thereby increasing flower longevity of N. plumbaginifolia .