To exclude the known effect of autocatalytic ethylene production on ethylene responsiveness (Woodson and Lawton, 1988), ethylene inhibitors should be included in the test solution. Here, flowers were treated with AVG prior to being subjected to ethanol and ethylene treatments in order to clarify whether exposure to ethanol reduces sensitivity to ethylene. Irrespective of ethanol treatment, AVG treatment significantly delayed petal wilting of flowers exposed to 0.2 L L
−1
ethylene by 61 h (Table 1), which is consistent with findings reported by Cook et al. (1985). These findings together with our results suggest that the delay may be due to the inhibition of ethylene biosynthesis. However, AVG treatment did not delay petal wilting in the 2 L L
−1
ethylene treatment ( Table 1). Without AVG treatment, the control and ethanol-treated flowers exhibited similar wilting patterns following exposure to 0.2 and 2 L L
−1
ethylene, suggesting that the effect of ethanol on sensitivity to ethylene is negligible in cut carnation ‘Barbara’. In the present study, control flowers were not placed in the chambers to avoid molding. Separately, we confirmed that flower senescence was not affected by the chamber condition (data not shown).