3. Results
3.1. Chilling injury symptoms
Spathe browning increased during storage at 4 ◦C and the
increase was delayed by postharvest SA treatment (P < 0.01;
Figs. 1 and 2). Treatment with postharvest SA at 2 mM resulted in
a lower chilling injury score (Fig. 1; P < 0.01) and browning index
(Fig. 2; P < 0.01), while postharvest treatment with SA at 4 mM
resulted in higher chilling injury scores. Thus, SA effects on the
chilling injury of anthurium cut flowers are concentration dependent.
Based on these results, 2 mM SA for postharvest treatment
was chosen for further biochemical analyzes. The spathe browning
in control anthurium cut flowers starts after 4 days storage at
4 ◦C, which show shortest vase life, 16 days. But, in anthurium cut
flowers treated with 2 mM SA, spathe browning starts after 8 days
storage at 4 ◦C, which show longest vase life, 27 days (Table 1).
3.2. Electrolyte leakage and MDA content
Electrolyte leakage of the anthurium cut flowers stored at 4 ◦C
increased during the 21 days of storage (Table 2). The electrolyte
leakage of anthurium cut flowers treated with 2 mM SA remained
lower than thatin untreated control flowers (P < 0.01; Table 2).Also,
during storage at 4 ◦C, the MDA content in the anthurium cut flowers
increased (Table 2). Compared to the controls, a lower content