Primary and secondary heads were different at harvest in regards to their respiration rate (RR) (Fig. 1D). Florets form
terminal inflorescences presented a RR 50% lower than lateral florets. During cold storage the RR decreased, but at all sampling dates primary broccoli still maintained higher values than the corresponding secondary florets. The higher weight loss of the secondary inflorescences could be due to a greater surface of sepal, given that the flowers in the branchlets seemed to be larger than those of primary inflorescences.