Standardization of dehydration techniques of some ornamental foliages
The eco friendly dehydrated foliages and plant parts secured much popularity among users and becoming key components in floriculture industry. Foliages with highly variable keeping quality are used as filler element in flower vase. Dehydration of foliages has not been studied at large. This investigation was carried out with ornamental foliage's of three species viz. Araucaria cunninghamii, Thuja orientalis and Juniperus chinensis. White sand, silica gel and boric acid were used as embedding materials and two drying conditions of microwave oven and room drying were adopted for three durational treatments of viz. 10, 20 and 30 seconds and 4, 8 and 16 days respectively. In both Araucaria and Thuja orientalis, silica gel microwave oven combination for 30 and 20 seconds respectively exhibited best results in respect of moisture loss (49.23 and 58.33 per cent) and quality concern. White sand room condition also caused 61.41per cent moisture loss in Thuja orientalis while treated for 16 days. In Juniperus chinensis, white sand microwave oven and silica gel+room condition for 20 seconds and 16 days respectively showed moisture loss of 44.26 and 50.16 per cent respectively. Boric acid as embedding materials also found effective in dehydration of these species. All the three species were treated with glycerin: water solution of 1: 1 and 1: 3 (vol/vol) for 24, 48 and 96 hours followed by drying with aid of hot air oven at 70 80deg C for 5 hours and open air of room condition for 24 hours. Significant moisture loss of 60.56 to 62.56 per cent was recorded in Thuja orientalis while dehydrated in hot air oven for 96 hours.