Author(s): Chandana S, Chandan S and Dr. VR Malam

Abstract: Roses the reigning champions of the global cut flowers trade and India's leading floral export, boast numerous distinguishing features. In today's market augmenting value holds paramount importance. To delve deeper into this realm a comprehensive experiment was conducted between 2019 and 2020. Employing a fully randomized design with a factorial approach the study with two critical factors: drying methods and desiccants with three replications. Among the examined physical parameters the combination of sun drying with silica gel desiccant stood out. It yielded remarkable results including the highest weight loss percentages (1^st day: 57.03%, 2^nd day: 65.21% and 3^rd day: 71.34%), the lowest moisture content percentages (1^st day: 52.73% and 2^nd day: 44.59%) and the most substantial moisture loss percentages (2^nd day: 58.64%) during the drying process. Nevertheless when contemplating the reduction in flower diameter the shade drying method complemented by sea sand as a desiccant emerged as supremely effective displaying minimal diameter reduction (1^st day: 0.56, 2^nd day: 0.60, 3^rd day: 0.63 and 4^th day: 0.66). In summary, it can be concluded that sun drying with silica gel proves optimal for achieving desired physical parameters in rose flowers with the exception of flower diameter reduction, where shade drying with sea sand demonstrates superior suitability.

DOI: 10.33545/26174693.2024.v8.i2i.660