cutting with a sharp knife. Immediately after harvest, the cut ends of the flower stalks were immersed in water.
After bringing to the laboratory, the flowers were sorted for petal damage, pests and diseases. Stems of uniform
size were selected and trimmed to uniform length and the treatments were imposed immediately. The
temperature and its duration required for hot air oven drying were standardised by embedding the flowers in
silica gel and keeping them in hot air oven at different temperatures (30°C, 40°C and 50°C) till they were dried.
Experimental materials were dried by using with or without embedding material i.e., silica gel. For microwave
oven drying, half opened flowers of all the four cultivars were kept in IFB microwave oven at three different
time levels (3.0 minutes, 2.5 minutes and 2.0 minutes) by with and without embedding in silica gel. Water was
placed in a glass container at the back of microwave oven during the operation as suggested by the
manufacturers. After drying, the flowers were left undisturbed in the container along with or without desiccant
for 3 hours (called setting time) to eliminate the moisture. The experimental design followed was completely
randomized design with factorial concept. Treatments were replicated three times. After dehydration, the
containers were tilted for removing the desiccants over and around the flowers. The dried flowers were picked
up by hand, cleaned by inverting them and tapping the stems with fingers slowly and gently. Remaining
desiccants were finally removed with the help of fine brush. Observations on initial fresh weight of the flowers,
weight of the flowers after drying, moisture loss percentage and time taken for drying were recorded. Fresh
weight of the flowers before putting it for treatment was recorded and expressed in grams. Dry weight of the
flowers after drying was recorded and expressed in grams. Loss of moisture due to drying was estimated by
using the formula given below and expressed as percentage.
cutting with a sharp knife. Immediately after harvest, the cut ends of the flower stalks were immersed in water.After bringing to the laboratory, the flowers were sorted for petal damage, pests and diseases. Stems of uniformsize were selected and trimmed to uniform length and the treatments were imposed immediately. Thetemperature and its duration required for hot air oven drying were standardised by embedding the flowers insilica gel and keeping them in hot air oven at different temperatures (30°C, 40°C and 50°C) till they were dried.Experimental materials were dried by using with or without embedding material i.e., silica gel. For microwaveoven drying, half opened flowers of all the four cultivars were kept in IFB microwave oven at three differenttime levels (3.0 minutes, 2.5 minutes and 2.0 minutes) by with and without embedding in silica gel. Water wasplaced in a glass container at the back of microwave oven during the operation as suggested by themanufacturers. After drying, the flowers were left undisturbed in the container along with or without desiccantfor 3 hours (called setting time) to eliminate the moisture. The experimental design followed was completelyrandomized design with factorial concept. Treatments were replicated three times. After dehydration, thecontainers were tilted for removing the desiccants over and around the flowers. The dried flowers were pickedup by hand, cleaned by inverting them and tapping the stems with fingers slowly and gently. Remaining
desiccants were finally removed with the help of fine brush. Observations on initial fresh weight of the flowers,
weight of the flowers after drying, moisture loss percentage and time taken for drying were recorded. Fresh
weight of the flowers before putting it for treatment was recorded and expressed in grams. Dry weight of the
flowers after drying was recorded and expressed in grams. Loss of moisture due to drying was estimated by
using the formula given below and expressed as percentage.
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