Abstract
Tulip plants require low temperature to initiate stalk elongation and flowering. If tulip bulbs are stored without being exposed to low temperature, their stalk elongation will be inhibited, and flowering will not occur or will be abnormal. When cell solutions extracted from bulbs stored at low and high temperature were analyzed with the psychrometer, it was found that cells of bulbs stored at low temperature contained much more osmotically active solutes than those stored at high temperature.
Water-soluble carbohydrate components were analyzed with UV-MALDI and ESI TOF-MS, while they were extracted with water from scales of tulip bulbs stored at low and high temperature and the bulbs after planting. MS analyses revealed distinctive signals of oligosaccharides derived from starch degradation. Series of oligosaccharides signals were modified by the ratio of adduct cations of Na+ and K,+ depending on temperature treatments and stage of bulb and stalk development.
