stages of harvest, which might have resulted in non-significant
differences among the treatments. Time taken for drying of all
the four cultivars was maximum at tight bud stage of harvest
(Table 1) and least at half bloom stage. This might be attributed
to the fact that, in half bloom stage the petals are loosely arranged
which accommodates the desiccants between petals and thus
helps in faster dehydration. Another probable reason for faster
dehydration might be due to the fact that the flowers loose