3. Results
3.1. Petal fresh weight and carbohydrate content of attached and cut flowers during flower opening
Changes in fresh weight (FW) of petals during flower opening are shown in Fig. 2. Petal FW of cut flowers harvested at TB and MB and attached flowers increased markedly until 4 days after TB, and then decreased over the next 6 days, when the FW of attached flowers were the highest and that of cut flowers harvested at TB the lowest. In terms of the changes in carbohydrate content during flower opening, the amount of glucose and fructose was much greater than sucrose in both attached and cut flowers (Fig. 3). All carbohydrates in attached flowers were at higher levels compared with those in cut flowers. Sucrose contents of cut flowers harvested at both MB and TB began to decrease drastically soon after harvest, and continued to decrease until 5 days after TB. Glucose and fructose of cut flowers harvested at MB decreased 1 day after harvest and stayed at approximately the same levels, while those of the cut flowers harvested at TB maintained low levels.