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To prolong the vase life of cut Cymbidium after postharvest pretreatment of pulsing agent, ethylene biosynthetic or action inhibitors were applied to individual flower or whole inflorescence of Cymbidium orchid. AVG treatment was more effective than STS or AIBA treatment in retarding the decrease of flower fresh weight. The most effective concentration was found at 1.0mM AVG. Ethylene production of untreated flower was rapidly increased 5 days after the start of experiment, while AVG-treated flower produced less (0.1mM) or almost negligible (more than 0.5mM) amount of ethylene. In whole inflorescence experiments, no visible sign of senescence such as lip redding, petal wilting, and abscission of individual flower was noticed even 24 days after pretreating with 1mM AVG. Pedicels and peduncles pretreated with 1mM AVG contained less soluble sugar and more starch content than untreated ones, respectively. While cultivar-specific response to pulsing agents was found, AVG pretreatment was the most effective in all cultivars used. As compared with untreated flower, AVG-treated flower was showed to increase 150-229% in vase life over the control.
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