3). There was a nearly two-fold inc

3). There was a nearly two-fold increase in
Fig. 1. The effect of temperature on the number of
undamaged packaged sweet basil cuttings over
time. Cuttings were classified as damaged if
there were any observable lesions. The total
number of cuttings for each temperature treatment
was 24.

shelf life of sweet basil harvested at 1800 HR
compared with 0200 or 0600 HR when held at
10 or 20C. This effect of time of day of harvest
was also substantial at 15C, with an increase in
shelf life of 170%.
Surprisingly, no alleviation of CI symptoms
was observed on shoots from basil stored
at 0, 5, or 10C when harvested at times later in
the light period, as was reported for tomato
seedlings (King et al., 1982). The difference in
response may relate to the use of intact vs.
detached plant material, or may represent a
basic difference in plant response. In a separate
experiment, 24 out of 24 unprotected
plants exposed to 5C developed CI symptoms
within 1 day, compared to 3 days for packaged
shoots. Protection from heat loss and water
loss through the polyethylene packages may
have affected the response. Wilson (1976)
reported that CI on green bean (Phaseolus
vulgaris L.) plants was prevented for 7 to 10
days simply by enclosing the plants in polyethylene
bags. The symptoms of CI in green
bean plants were wilting and pitting of leaf
tissue, which are enhanced by water loss. In
our experiments, there was little modification
of O2 or CO2 in the packages (data not shown).