近年來，已有花農與貿易商合作，將洋桔梗切花以空運方式銷往日.，雖然空運須時較短，但運輸成本昂貴。反之，若改採海運貨櫃運輸方式，則可大幅降低運輸成本，但是由於運輸時間較長，採收後之切花，經歷的逆境期間也隨之延長，因此，需要進行與空運切花截然不同的採收後處理方式。本計畫之研究方向，就是針對此一問題，與專業洋桔梗花農，與具銷日切花實績之貿易商合作，設法改善以海運貨櫃方式銷日之洋桔梗切花的貯運後品質，以期提高相關業者之收益，提高國產花卉之國際競爭優勢。綜合前三年的研究成果，如何將採收及運輸方式、預措液及長期保鮮液配方成分、及不同階段之處理時間，依照不同栽培種，相互結合發展出標準作業流程，是本年度之努力方向。本計劃除在實驗室進行外，並協同績優貿易商，將處理之切花，以海運貨櫃方式，運往日本市場試銷。前三年之結果顯示：對照組之切花，經5至7天之低溫貯運，易產生之品質劣變包括:上位小花無法順利開放，甚至夭折垂頸，最下位花出現萎凋外觀，瓶插壽命縮短，花色淡化。以含糖迫吸液處理者有較長之瓶插壽命，開花率及花色之鮮艷度均有明顯改善，殺菌劑之使用可進一步改善切花之整體品質，乙烯抑制劑之效果隨冷藏天數之增加，其改善效果則顯著提高。以立式容器配合含糖溶液，在運輸期間持續處理，可明顯改善上列之品質劣變，並已達預定試銷數量。
In recent years, the Eustoma export industry has been expanded to a large scale. In the early years, most Eustoma cut flowers were exported by air, however, the high transport cost made the profit less than exporters expected. Therefore, transport by sea using containers seemed to be a good alternative. In order to improve the quality of cut eustoma flowers after long term storage, the postharvest handling procedure must be first developed. The previous reports for last 3 years had studied the effects of various formula of pretreatment and preservatives on the postharvest quality of individual cultivars of cut Eustoma flowers . The main items investigated were namely, the percentage of opened florets, petal color intensities, degrees of floral opening and bending of pedicels. The results indicated that cut flowers pretreated with solutions of both stages gave the most satisfactory performance. The ethylene responsiveness was significantly inhibited by the applications of ethylene inhibitors.
