Abstract: Removing the apical cloves from the excised garlic scapes could delay the senescence of scape and decrease the rate of dry matter loss during storage. The ABA content of all the portions of the scapes with apical cloves is decreased as the prolongation of storage period; but its content of all the portions of the scapes with the cloves reaches their peak one after another within the first 6 days of the experiment period. The peak of ABA in the apical cloves appears earliest; the ABA content of any portion of the scapes is lower than that of the cloves, and gradually decreases from upper to lower portions, and the peak of ABA content appears in the sequence as above. Exogenous ABA which is added to the top of the scapes without cloves would simulate the function of the apical cloves in part and accelerates the chlorophyll destruction and senescence of the scapes. No ethylene can be detected by the G. C., in the process of senescence. The authors suggest that ABA is mainly synthesized in the cloves, and then transported into the scapes from there. In the senescence of garlic scapes and in the redistribution of material between the apical cloves and the scapes (the relation between the sink and source), ABA functions as transporting information and promoting senescence but ethylene has not such a function. The senescence of garlic scape could be divided into two stages: first the static phase and second, the active phase.

Key words: Garlic scape, Abscisic acid, Ethylene, Senescence