Interesting article on Ethylene as a Regulator of Senescence (Yellowing) in Tobacco Leaf

[GonzoAcres]

I've been curioius about the more specific processes in play during the initial yellowing of tobacco as i'm reaching harvest time in my first year of growing tobacco. While reading up on best practices for post-harvest handling of fresh greenbeans for sale at farmers markets, I encountered some discussion of the impact of ethylene on greenbeans which used the term senescence, which I hadn't encountered before, in when discussing the process of converting chlorophyll in ripening green plants. I figured it was the same process that is occuring in tobacco when we are "color curing" to yellow the leaves, and sure enough it is...

so for those interested in what else impacts the process of yellowing tobacco leaves here ya go...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC543366/pdf/plntphys00133-0127.pdf

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Post in thread 'what is curing gas??' https://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/what-is-curing-gas.3466/post-63748

 

[deluxestogie]

About a decade ago, I tried accelerating the yellowing of primed, green Shirazi leaf, by hanging it inside a clean garbage can (lid on) into which I had place a small pile of banana peels (ethylene releasing). Although it was not a controlled experiment, my impression was that it made little difference in the tobacco.

Every autumn, motorists in temperate parts of the world, seek out magnificent views of the secondary pigments revealed by the chlorophyll degradation of leaf senescence.

Bob

 

[GonzoAcres]

and another article

Research Progress of Leaf Senescence Related Genes in Tobacco

Tobacco (<i>Nicotiana tabacum</i> L.) is an important model plant that has been widely used in plant biological research. Tobacco is also an economic crop in which mature yellow leaves are harvested. Leaf maturity and the yellowing process have a decisive influence on the quality of tobacco...

www.sciencepublishinggroup.com

 

[GonzoAcres]

I've seen some extention articles on the use of ethephon for yellowing, https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/flue-c...n/topping-managing-suckers-and-using-ethephon.. not sure I would want to smoke tobacco that had been treated with it, though having smoked commercial cigarettes for 20+ years i'm sure i've smoked plenty of it

Tobacco Curing Ethylene Generator | Catalytic Generators

The Tobacco Curing Generator cuts up to 30 hours of normal yellowing, wilting and drying times of mature leaves, yielding higher-quality tobacco leaves.

www.catalyticgenerators.com