IMPORTANCE OF POST
HARVEST HANDLING OF FLOWERS:
•The quality of flowers, which reaches the final consumer, depends on the pre-harvest and post-harvest handling.
•The quality of flowers, which reaches the final consumer, depends on the pre-harvest and post-harvest handling.
• Quality is the pillar for creating value and
customer satisfaction
•The
flowers are highly perishable need utmost care.
•When
flowers are detached from the plant, they deprived of food, water, minerals and
hormones.
•It
is estimated that about 30% of flowers perish during handling.
•Therefore
it is important to study post-harvest handling of flowers to keep flowers in
good quality.
INHERENT
FACTORS INFLUENCING POST-HARVEST LIFE:
•Keeping quality of flowers vary from
species and cultivars, this may be due to genetic or inherent factors like
differences in anatomical, physiological, physical, biochemical and genetic
make up.
•Keeping quality of flowers also depends
on,
–Carbohydrate reserves,
–Osmotic concentration,
–Pressure potential of petal cells,
–Stomatal
functioning,
–Difference in number of thick walled
supporting cells in the xylem element and phloem fibre,
–Presence or absence of a complete ring
of secondary thickening in flower peduncles,
–Differences in the diffusive resistance
of leaves in the field.
–Lignifications,
–Level of plant hormones and
–Susceptibility to disease and insects.
•
PRE-HARVEST FACTORS INFLUENCING POST-HARVEST LIFE:
•Pre-harvest
conditions under which the crop is grown influences on the post-harvest life of
flowers.
•Selection
of the variety,
•Environmental
factors like light, temperature, relative humidity
•Nutrition,
irrigation, diseases and pests, pollution, etc
•
RIGHT TIME, METHOD AND STAGE OF HARVEST FOR DIFFERENT
COMMERCIAL FLOWERS
•Right time, method and stage of
harvesting influence the vase life of flowers.
•Harvest early in morning or in the late
evening when temperatures are mild to avoid faster respiration rate to
excessive water loss.
•Flowers are fully turgid due to low
transpiration at night (rose, chrysanthemum, gerbera).
•Evening harvest is advocated because of
higher sugar level in the stem due to high rates of photosynthesis during day
time.
•Immediately after harvest the flowers
should be put in water or preservative solutions.
•Right method of harvest includes
cutting flower stem with sharp knives or secateurs;
•
•Avoid
crushing of stem, giving slanting cut to hard wood stems so as to expose
maximum surface area to ensure rapid water absorption.
•Cutting
stem length at specific lengths depending on crop market, purpose, etc,.
•Harvesting
at an optimum maturity stage is important and stage of harvest varies from crop
to crop and varieties.
•
OPTIMUM STAGES OF HARVESTING FOR IMPORTANT FLOWERS
|
Sl.
No.
|
Flowers
|
Purpose
|
Stage
of Harvest
|
|
1
|
Rose
|
Cut
flower
|
1-2
petals beginning to
unfold.
At
tight bud stage.
|
|
2
|
Jasmine
|
Loose
flower
|
Matured,
unopened bud stage
|
|
Oil
extraction
|
Fully
opened flowers
|
||
|
3
|
Anthurium
|
Cut
flower
|
Spadix almost fully
developed 1/3rd of
flowers on spadix
mature. Change of
colour
from base to top.
|
you can now buy Knol Khol Green Seeds – HYBRID
ReplyDeleteonline from Gardener Shopping