Effect of Drying Techniques and Embedding Media on Dried Flower Quality of Rose (Rosa chinensis Jacq.) and Water Lily (Nymphaea alba L.)

An investigation was conducted to study the effect of drying techniques and embedding media on dried flower quality of rose (Rosa chinensis Jacq.) and water lily (Nymphaea alba L.) at the College of Horticulture & Forestry, Jhalawar (Raj.), comprising of 22 treatments including three drying conditions viz. air drying without embedding (control), hot air oven drying (At 40°C, 50°C and 60°C for 24 hours) and microwave oven drying (2 minutes, 3 minutes and 4 minutes at 350 Hz) in a combination with three different embedding media viz. sand, borax and silica gel. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The largest sized dried flowers (5.91 cm in rose and 10.00 cm in water lily) were recorded in microwave oven drying at 350 Hz for 2 minutes plus sand embedding. The maximum weight loss (86.78 % in rose and 88.71 % in water lily) was recorded in Microwave oven drying at 350 Hz for 4 minutes plus silica gel embedding. The minimum pigment loss in dried flowers of rose (20.27 %) was recorded in microwave oven at 350 Hz for 2 minutes plus embedding. The highest sensory scores for colour (8.13 and 7.95), shape (8.57 and 7.87) and overall acceptability (8.23 and 7.90) of dried flowers of rose and water lily, respectively were recorded with silica gel embedded flowers dried in microwave oven at 350 Hz for 3 minutes as against the lowest scores for colour (5.08 and 5.01), shape (5.04 and 4.93) and overall acceptability (5.01 and 4.97) of dried flowers of rose and water lily, respectively recorded with control (air drying without embedding).