Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Prashant Sharma, Bharati Kashyap, Shabnam Pangtu and Anshul Kumar

Abstract:
An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different pre harvest sprays, storage conditions and storage durations on marigold cv. ‘Pusa Narangi Gainda’. Studies included three pre-harvest spray of BA @ 50 ppm, jeevamrut @ 10 ppm and distilled water (control) on standing crop and harvested flowers were packed in cardboard boxes and stored under cold storage (4 ºC) and room temperature for five different storage durations (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 days). Study revealed that shelf life was increased in both the pre-harvest sprays over control but BA 50 ppm resulted in maximum shelf life (3.65 days) with minimum weight change (8.27%), minimum spoilage (11.49%) and maximum moisture content (84.81%). Among storage durations maximum shelf life (5.33 days) was observed under one day storage and minimum shelf life (1.17 days) was observed when the flowers were stored for five days. When storage conditions were analysed, better shelf life (3.42 days) was observed under refrigerated conditions when compared to room temperature (2.40 days). Flowers sprayed with BA 50 ppm and stored under refrigerated conditions for 1 day, maximum shelf life of 6 days was recorded and thus can be recommended for better post-harvest life of marigold.