An experiment was carried out to study the productivity and flower quality of Anthurium andreanum cv. Evita cultivated in shade house (75% shade net) and under natural forest trees at Herbal garden, School of Earth Sciences & Natural Resources, Management, Mizoram University, Tanhril, Mizoram. There were six different nutrient sources as F0 - control  (no additional nutrient source); F1 - NPK (19:19:19) @ 25 g/pot/year; F2 - Biofertilizers (azospirillum and phosphotika) each @ 3 g/pot/year; F3 - Cattle manure @ 1.0 kg/pot/year; F4- Pig manure @1.0 kg/pot/year and F5- Poultry manure @ 0.5 kg/pot/year were applied in three equal splits. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block design with factorial concept comprising in three replications. All vegetative and flowering parameters differ significantly at 0.05 level, and were observed better under Shade house (75% shade net) condition. Number of suckers per pot (4.77), number of leaves (23.73), leaf area (257.79cm2), flower stalk length (41.68cm), flower stalk diameter (5.95mm), spadix length (60.77cm), spadix diameter (10.02mm), spathe area (103.25cm2), vase life (19.67days) and number of flower per plant (3.57) were found maximum in F1 - NPK (19:19:19) @ 25 g/pot/year. Hence Anthurium andreanum cv. Evita planted in cocopeat, charcoal and vermicompost in the proportion of 6.5:1:1 placed under shade house (75% shade net) and fertilized with NPK (19:19:19) @ 25 g/pot/year can enhance growth and flowering characters.

The present experiment was carried out to standardize suitable drying techniques for hybrid tea rose variety ‘Valencia”. Two types of desiccants viz., silica gel and boric acid were used as embedding materials for drying, and the flowers were dried in hot air oven with different temperature and time combinations such as 40°C for 24 hours and 48 hours, 45°C for 24 hours and 48 hours, 50°C for 24 hours and 48 hours, 55°C for 24 hours and 48 hours, 60°C for 24 hours and 48 hours. Different observations were taken such as fresh and dry weight of flowers and hence moisture loss percentage calculated, petal diameter before and after drying were taken and hence petal shrinkage was determined. Sensory evaluations such as flower colour, shape, texture and overall acceptability was also determined. Results show that maximum moisture loss percentage (86.44%) was obtained in flowers embedded with silica gel and dried at 60°C for 48 hours; largest difference between petal diameter of fresh and dry flowers, and also maximum petal shrinkage of 14.27% occurred in those embedded with silica gel and dried at 60°C for 48 hours, whereas best score in sensory evaluations in terms of flower colour, flower shape, flower texture and overall acceptability were obtained with rose flowers embedded in silica gel and drying at 50°C for 48 hours.

Abstract-An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different local treatments with and without CaCl 2 on the quality and shelf life of tomato fruits. Mature green tomato fruits were evaluated, and data were taken on weight loss, shelf life, titratable acidity, TSS, reducing sugars, total sugars and vitamin C contents during storage at ambient temperature (20±5°C). The fruits were then evaluated for changes in quality parameters within the different stages of ripening. Results showed that dipping tomato fruits in 8% CaCl 2 for ten minutes does not have bene icial effects on shelf life and quality retention of tomato fruits. Wrapping tomato fruits with polythene resulted in least weight loss, maximum contents of TSS, titratable acidity, total and reducing sugars as well as ascorbic acid and also maximum shelf life of tomato fruits among all other treatments, and thus can be used effectively for storing green mature tomato fruits for upto 25 days in ambient temperature.

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Freshly harvested, semi opened rose flowers cv. Valencia were dried with different embedding materials viz. silica gel, borax and fine sand. These embedding materials were used alone, or in combination as mixture of equal proportions of silica gel and borax (50:50); silica gel and sand(50:50); sand and borax (50:50); and were subjected to drying under ambient conditions. Different parameters were recorded such as loss in weight, petal shrinkage, sensory evaluations of colour, texture, shape, overall acceptability and also drying time. The results revealed that among the different embedding materials tried, flowers dried in silica gel has the highest moisture loss, highest score in sensory characters and also took the shortest time for drying.