SIDDHESH KARANJKAR, HOMRAJ SAHARE* AND SHAIK MOHAMMAD FIROZE
Department of Horticulture, School of Agriculture, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411 (Punjab), India
*(e-mail: homraj.19822@lpu.co.in, homrajsahare82@gmail.com; Mobile: 98775 20188)
(Received: September 23, 2024; Accepted: November 11, 2024)
ABSTRACT
Gladiolus is one of the most important cut flowers in the world. Main problem in gladiolus cut flower is short vase life of 4 to 8 days. An experiment was conducted at the Department of Horticulture, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India to observe the effect of various packaging materials on post- harvest life and quality of gladiolus. The gladiolus flower was treated with eight treatment combinations (T1–CFB box, T2–Bubble sheet, T3–Brown paper, T4–LDPE 100 microns, T5–LDPE 50 microns, T6–LDPE 30 Microns, T7–HDPE 50 microns and T8–PVC film. Among all these treatments, the treatment T4 (LDPE 100 microns) showed the best results in terms of water uptake (ml), flower weight (g), dry weight (g), number of florets opened, number of florets remained closed, floret opening (%), days to open 5th floret, days to wither 5th floret, days taken to discolouration of the floret, stem diameter (mm), pH of the solution, electrolyte leakage (%) and vase life (days) which was extended to 18 days after storing the flowers with packaging and storing at 4°C. Therefore, it was concluded that LDPE 100 microns can be commercially used for packaging and transportations of flowers and improving post harvest life of gladiolus cv. Nova lux.
Key words: Packaging, Nova lux, HDPE, LDPE