Evaluation of chrysanthemum cultivars for postharvest quality
V. Baskaran, T. Janakiram and R. Jayanthi
Book of Abstract. APEC Symposium on Assuring Quality and Safety of Fresh Produce, August 1-3, 2005, Bangkok, Thailand. 76 page.
2005
บทคัดย่อ
Evaluation of Chrysanthemum Cultivars for Postharvest Quality
Chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflora Tzvelev.) is one of the most important flower crops both at the national and international level. In India, chrysanthemum is used for making garlands, veni bracelets, in religious offerings and also cut flower. An experiment was conducted to investigate postharvest quality parameters in some of the important cultivars for their commercial exploitation. The results showed that the maximum stalk length was observed in cv. Nilima and the minimum length was in cv. Button Type Local. Stalk length variation among different cultivars may be due to their genetic characters. The maximum stalk girth was observed in cv. Cassa (0.32 cm). Maximum flower diameter was recorded in cv. Ravikiran. The disc diameter varied from 0.11cm in Button Type Local to 1.38 cm in cv. Arka Ravi. Maximum flower weight was observed in cv. Cassa (3.59 g), while Button Type Local exhibited the lowest value (0.48g) among the cultivars studied. Number of ray florets per head showed a very wide range of variation from 47.33 with the mean of 175.24 the maximum value was exhibited by cv. Nilima (253.2) and minimum by cv. Cassa (47.33). The varieties Button Type Local (0.74 cm) and Ravikiran (3.96 cm) recorded the lowest and highest length of ray florets, respectively. Arka Swarna recorded maximum fresh weight, final weight and water loss (88.33, 40.63 and 47.67 g respectively) of the spray. Arka Swarna recorded longer duration of vase life with 16 days followed by Ravikiran (10 days). The results revealed that cultivars Arka Swarna, Ravikiran, Red Gold, Nilima, and Arka Ravi exhibited best postharvest quality attributes and may be selected for cut flower production. Cultivars Cassa, Chandrika, Yellow Star and Kasturi Shaventagae had inferior postharvest quality attributes and may be selected for loose flower purposes.