Treating the flowers at this power
output level was best with respect to quality attributes.
Upon subjecting to longer duration of drying, the texture
and colour retainment was poor. Increase in the temperature
might have been the cause for poor colour. Interactions
among different time levels and mode of desiccation were
highly significant for colour, appearance and texture of
dried rose flowers. Among the interaction effects, embedding
the flowers in silica gel and drying for 2.5 min were
proved to be the best. Flowers embedded in silica gel and
dried at power output level for 2.5 min scored the higher
points (3.48), while those dried for 3 min without embedding
scored minimum points (1.07) for the colour of dried
flowers. Out of all the interaction effects, embedding in
silica gel and drying for 2.5 min scored the highest points
of 3.51 for retention of appearance, while those flowers
dried for 3 min without embedding scored only 1.08 points
for the same. Embedded drying in silica gel for 2.5 min
was found best for retention of texture scoring 3.29 points,
while those flowers dried without embedding for 3 min
scored only 0.98 points, which indicated poor retention of
texture in these flowers. Acceptability for quality attributes
20 S. A. Safeena, V. S. Patil
123