[en] Vase life is one of the most important characters of postharvest cut flower quality. The onset of ethylene production and the amount of ethylene produced by flowers vary with the carnation cultivar, and thus influence their vase life. In the present study, differences in ethylene production and the response to exogenous ethylene among carnation cultivars were evaluated. Ten different cultivars: 'Baltico', 'Domingo', 'Exotica', 'Famosa', 'Kiro', 'Madame Augier', 'Master', 'Mundo', Pilar' and 'Reina'were studied. Five flowers for each cultivar were exposed for 8 hours to 1 μL L–1 exogenous ethylene concentration. Ethylene production, fresh weight and water uptake was measured daily throughout theexperiments. The 10 different cultivars studied showed clear differences in vase life, ethylene production, onset timein ethylene production and response to exogenous ethylene. The shortest vase life was for 'Exotica' flowers which wasonly 11.6 days, while 'Baltico' and 'Pilar' lasted 2.5-3 times longer than 'Exotica'. Most of the investigated cultivarsshowed notable increases in the amount of ethylene. However, 'Baltico' and 'Pilar' flowers produced only a traceamount of ethylene and had the longest vase life. Results showed that cultivars with a long vase life ('Baltico' and'Pilar') display high ethylene responsiveness and, in contrast, cultivars with a short vase life ('Exotica' and 'Mundo') present low responsiveness. The decline in fresh weight of cut flowers observed in the last phase of their vase life occurred earlier in short-lived cultivars than in the longer-lived ones.

[es] La vida &uacute;til de la flor cortada es uno de los caracteres m&aacute;s importantes de evaluaci&oacute;n de la calidad en poscosecha.El momento y cantidad de etileno producido por la flor de clavel var&iacute;a entre cultivares y eso influye en la vida &uacute;til dela flor. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar diferencias en la producci&oacute;n de etileno y su repuesta al etileno ex&oacute;geno en diez cultivares de clavel (&lsquo;Baltico&rsquo;, &lsquo;Domingo&rsquo;, &lsquo;Exotica&rsquo;, &lsquo;Famosa&rsquo;, &lsquo;Kiro&rsquo;, &lsquo;Madame Augier&rsquo;, &lsquo;Master&rsquo;, &lsquo;Mundo&rsquo;, Pilar&rsquo; y &lsquo;Reina&rsquo;). Se expusieron durante 8 h cinco flores de cada cultivar a una concentraci&oacute;n de 1 &mu;L L&ndash;1 de etileno ex&oacute;geno. Se midi&oacute; la producci&oacute;n de etileno, peso fresco y absorci&oacute;n de agua diariamente. Los 10 cultivares estudiados presentaron diferencias claras en la vida &uacute;til de la flor, tiempo y producci&oacute;n de etileno y respuesta al etileno. &lsquo;Exotica&rsquo; fue el cultivar con vida &uacute;til m&aacute;s corta (11,6 d&iacute;as), mientras &lsquo;Baltico&rsquo; y &lsquo;Pilar&rsquo; presentaron una vida &uacute;til 2,5-3 veces mayor que &lsquo;Exotica&rsquo;. La mayor&iacute;a de los cultivares produjeron una notable cantidad de etileno, sin embargo &lsquo;Baltico&rsquo; y &lsquo;Pilar&rsquo;, con la vida &uacute;til m&aacute;s larga, produjeron solo cantidades trazas de etileno. Estos cultivares de vida &uacute;til larga (&lsquo;Baltico&rsquo; y &lsquo;Pilar&rsquo;) mostraron alta sensibilidad al etileno, sin embargo, los de vida &uacute;til corta (&lsquo;Exotica&rsquo; y &lsquo;Mundo&rsquo;) presentaron baja sensibilidad. La reducci&oacute;n del peso fresco observado en la primera fase de la vida &uacute;til de la flor, ocurre antes en los cultivares con una vida &uacute;til corta que larga.