Effect of Dehydration Methods on Quality of Ornamental Foliage

The present investigation was undertaken with six foliage species such as Boston Fern, Oak Leaf Croton, Sloppy Painter Croton, Cordyline, Monstera and Ornamental Rubber for assessing the quality of dried foliage for decoration. Four dehydration methods were adopted with silica gel and boric acid as desiccant in Tray drying, Sun drying and Microwave Oven drying whereas two concentrations (1:1 & 1:2) was taken for glycerin dip method. The overall acceptability of the dried foliage was found to be superior in glycerin dip method and microwave oven drying with silica gel in terms of shape retention and brittleness and colour retention with shortest time of drying. Silica gel showed highest moisture loss and total chlorophyll retention for all the six ornamental foliage. The maximum moisture reduction was observed in tray drying for all the foliage except for Boston fern, which was better in microwave oven drying.