Postharvest life and quality of tuberose spikes as affected by colouring agents and storage

A series of experiments were conducted on influence of colouring agents, viz., ammonium purpurate, eosin yellow, bromocresol blue, bromocresol green and phenol red (for each chemical 0.1 per cent concentration and 5 hours pulsing duration) and dry storage at 4 -5°C on cut spikes of tuberose cv. Suvasini. It has been recorded that various colouring agents successfully induced colour in the cut spikes without affecting their vase life. During cool storage (4–5°C), a slight loss of colour in the cut spikes was observed on 3^rd and 4^th day of storage. Spikes which were pulsed with ammonium perpurate (0.1 per cent) for 5 hours, and with bromocresol green (0.1 per cent) for 5 hours, lost entire colour after 48 hours of keeping in the vase at ambient conditions. In all treatments, vase life of cut spikes did not vary significantly over the control.