1Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari-396450, Gujarat
2Department of Fruit Science ASPEE, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari-396450, Gujarat
*E-mail: dralkasinghdhaka@gmail.com
Online published on 23 October, 2017.
An investigation was carried out to study the effect of different varieties at various harvest stages to get quality dry rose using silica gel embedding with microwave oven dehydration method. Among all varieties var. Jet Set showed best quality in terms of carotene content (0.87 mg/g), minimum decrease in flower diameter (0.22 cm) and recorded maximum score for colour retention (4). Further, the same variety recorded high petal intactness (100%) and maximum dry flower longevity (130.33 days) along other quality parameters such as well maintained shape, smooth petal texture and low brittleness. Among different stages of harvest, flowers harvested at 50% open stage showed, higher pigment retention anthocyanin (1.00 mg/g) and carotene content (0.58 mg/g), minimum decrease in flower diameter (0.32 cm), high petal intactness and recorded maximum score for dry flower quality and maximum dry flower longevity (105.75 days). Thus, among all treatment combinations var. Jet Set dried at 50% open stage in microwave oven embedded with silica gel showed best quality in terms of overall dry flower quality with regard to flower diameter, pigment retention, shape, colour, intactness and dry flower life.
Anthocyanin, carotene, dry flower quality, harvest stage, rose
