Studies on Methods of Dehydration of Rose Buds

Among different methods of dehydration, air-drying in inverted position resulted in maximum weight loss (78.33%) followed by silica gel embedding (70.35%) in rose buds. Among different rose cultivars tested, Lord Robbie lost maximum weight (46.28%) immediately after the treatment whereas cv. Gold Medal exhibited maximum weight loss (79.64%) after one month of drying. Silica gel embedding exhibited the highest score of colour retention (2.60) followed by microwave drying for 4 min (2.06) and cv. Christan Dior retained higher score of 3.33 than other cultivars. Silica gel embedding followed by microwave drying for four min were found most suitable for shape retention and cv. Christan Dior exhibited maximum shape retention score (3.60) followed by Gold Medal (2.60).