3.1.3 Effect of Cultivars and Different Drying Temperatures in Hot Air Oven
The data pertaining to different parameters viz., dry weight, moisture loss, time taken for drying, flower colour,
appearance and texture as influenced by cultivars and different temperature levels are furnished in Table 3. There
was no significant difference in dry weight and moisture loss as influenced by cultivars and different temperature
levels. The time taken for drying was maximum for flowers of ‘Ravel’ which took 57.06 hours, while it was
minimum (56.30 hours) for flowers of ‘Lambada’. This may be due to low moisture content of flower, rapid
dehydration of papery structure of flowers and also it might have lost the moisture at a faster rate due to smaller
sized flowers. Among the temperature levels, drying of all the cultivars of Dutch rose flowers in hot air oven at a
temperature of 50°C took least time (39.40 hours) while drying at a temperature of 30°C took maximum time
(80.72 hours). Interaction effects between different cultivars and different temperature levels also varied
significantly for time taken for drying. Among the interactions, ‘Lambada’ dried at 50°C took minimum time for
drying (39.09 hours) while ‘Ravel’ dried at 30°C took maximum time (80.93 hours) for drying. Among the
interactions between different temperature levels and cultivars, cv. ‘Lambada’ dried at 50°C took least time for
drying. This might be due to the faster removal of moisture from small sized flowers at higher temperature. Among
the four cultivars, maximum score (2.17) for colour retention was received by ‘Lambada’ followed by cv'. ‘Skyline’
(2.08). Least score (1.91) for flower colour was recorded in ‘Ravel’. Gordon (2004) opined that colours that came
out close to the original when dried in silica are white, orange, yellow, lavender and blue (non-roses). Darker
colours such as red tend to turn out even darker. So the result is in harmony with the aforesaid reports. The
maximum score of 2.14 for dry flower appearance was recorded in ‘Lambada’ among the four cultivars evaluated.
Least score of 1.79 points for appearance of the flower was recorded in ‘Ravel’. Best size and shape of dry flower
was obtained in cv. ‘Lambada’ owing to its varietal character. ‘Lambada’ had good texture and received highest
rating of 1.95, whereas ‘Ravel’ obtained least rating of 1.63. All the quality display characters of the dry flowers
were best in the cv. ‘Lambada. Among the different cultivars, ‘Lambada’ flowers showed better texture of dry