J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 12(2) : 198-200, 2017 Eco friendly packages for freshness retention and shelf life extension of tuberose flower S. Bhuvaneswari* and Sangama Division of Post Harvest Technology and Agricultural Engineering ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hesaraghatta lake (PO) Bengaluru, India *E-mail: bhuvana@iihr.res.in ABSTRACT Tuberose is one among the important commercial flower crops popular for its pleasant fragrance in domestic as well as export market. Packaging material plays an important role in retention of freshness of tuberose flowers. At present, tuberose flowers are packaged in bulk in wet gunny bags and sold in whole sale market. For retail market, polyethylene covers are largely used for packaging of tuberose flowers which is not eco friendly. Hence, an attempt is made to standardise alternate eco friendly packages which will retain freshness and extend the shelf life of tuberose flowers. Experiments were conducted by packaging loose tuberose flowers (cv. Local Single) in areca nut sheath cup, banana leaf cup and peepal leaf cup. The samples were stored in both ambient (Temp 25-26°C, RH 52%) and low temperature (Temp 10p C, RH 86%). Periodical observations on colour index, freshness index and fragrance index were done using standard procedures. Studies revealed that arecanut sheath cup was found suitable for retail packaging of tuberose with higher freshness (82.26%), fragrance (71.21%), had shelf life upto 2 days in ambient storage condition when compared to flowers packaged in banana sheath cup and peepal cup which had less freshness and fragrance index in similar storage condition. In low temperature storage also tuberose flower packaged in areca nut sheath cup had higher freshness index (87.84), colour index (79.63) and fragrance index (71.21), as compared to flowers packaged in banana sheath cup and peepal leaf cup and shelf life of 7 days. Key words: Tuberose, eco friendly package, shelf life extension, freshness retention INTRODUCTION Tuberose is one among the important commercial flower crops popular for its pleasant fragrance in domestic as well as export market. Packaging material plays an important role in retention of freshness of tuberose flowers. At present tuberose flowers are packaged in bulk in wet gunny bags and sold in whole sale market. Tuberose loose flowers are packaged in bamboo basket (around 10-15kg are packaged in each basket) and the baskets covered with wet gunny bags or muslin cloth (Safeena et al., 2015). They are transported to the nearby wholesale market for selling. For retail market, polyethylene covers are largely used for packaging of tuberose flowers which is not eco friendly. Roy Chowdhury et al.(2011) reported the beneficial effect of banana leaf over polyethylene and polypropylene in the packaging of tuberose flowers. An attempt is made to standardise eco friendly packages such as areca nut sheath cup, banana sheath cup and peepal leaf cup which will retain freshness and extend the shelf life of tuberose flowers. Experiments were conducted by packaging loose tuberose flowers (cv. Local Single) in areca nut (Areca catechu) sheath cup, banana (Musa a c u m i n a t a ) s hea t h c u p a nd p eep a l ( Fi c u s religiosa) leaf cup. The samples were stored in both ambient (Temp 25-26°C, RH 52%) and low temperature (Temp 10pC, RH 86%). Periodical observations on PLW, colour index, freshness index and fragrance index were done. The PLW was Short Communication 198 199 J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 12(2) : 198-200, 2017 Eco friendly packages in tuberose computed by subtracting fresh weight of flowers on any day from its weight on the previous day and expressed as percentage. Visual observations such as colour retention index, freshness index, fragrance index and shelf life (days) were recorded as sensory evaluation scoring (Thamaraiselvi et al., 2010). All t he ex p er i ment s wer e c ondu c t ed wit h f ou r r ep lic a t ions a nd s t a t is t ic a lly a na lyz ed us ing Completely Randomised Design (CRD) with WASP 2.0 software (Bhuvaneswari et al, 2016) Among different packages, freshness index (%) of tuberose flower was higher in areca nut sheath cup (82.26), followed by banana sheath cup (78.38), peepal leaf cup (77.14) at ambient storage condition (Table.1). In low temperature storage, freshness index in the areca nut sheath cup and banana sheath cup were on par compared to peepal leaf cup (Table 2). Ma intenance of maximum freshness in flowers might be due to higher levels of moisture content in the areca nut sheath cup. Packaging maintains higher humidity which slows down the process of moisture loss. Respiration loss also slows down due to proper balance of CO2 and O2 (Anzueto and Rizve,1985). Similarly, fragrance index which is the important quality character was higher in tuberose packaged in areca nut sheath cup (71.21), followed by banana sheath cup (66.67) and peepal leaf cup (66.67) both in ambient and low temperature storage (Table 1 and Table 2). This may be due to biological nature of areca nut sheath to retain the fragrance without any off flavour development. These results are in accordance with the findings of Ka r uppaia h et al. (2006). T he fragrance retention of tuberose was higher in areca nut sheath cup kept in low temperature storage (73.33) even after seven days of storage than in ambient condition. Colour index which is used to determine the retention of whiteness of tuberose flower during storage was also higher in the flowers packaged in areca sheath cup both in ambient and low temperature storage when compared to other package. Low temperature storage of tuberose in areca sheath cup had good colour retention upto 7 days of storage as compared to those stored at ambient condition for 2 days (Fig.1 and 2). Higher Table 2. Tuberose in eco friendly packages at low temperature storage (Temp.10p C, RH 83%) after 7 days of storage Treatments Freshness Index Colour retention Index Fragrance Index PLW(%) Peepal Leaf cup 86.16 77.05 70.11 5.97 Arecanut shealth cup 87.84 79.64 70.33 7.60 Banana shealth cup 87.98 78.63 70.51 4.16 C.D. at1% 1.072 1.74 1.071 1.31 Table 1. Tuberose retail package at ambient storage (Temp. 25-26°C, RH 52%) after 48h of storage Treatments Freshness Index Colour retention Index Fragrance Index PLW(%) Peepal Leaf cup 77.14 76.51 66.67 8.33 Arecanut shealth cup 82.26 78.15 71.21 10 Banana shealth cup 78.38 77.18 66.67 8.33 C.D. at1% 2.38 1.42 1.36 4.52 Fig. 1. Tuberose in different packages at ambient storage (Temp. 25-26°C, RH 52%) 200 Bhuvaneswari and Sangama Fig. 2. Tuberose in different packages at low temperature storage (Temp.10pC, RH 83%) Anzueto,G.R and Rizve,S.S.H. 1985. Individual packaging of apples for shelf life extension. J.Food.Sci.50: 897-900 Bhuvaneswari, S., Narayana, C.K., Udhayakumar, R. and Veeregowda, R. 2016. Effect of packaging a nd stor age tempera ture on shelf life of minimally processed onion (Allium cepa L.). J.Hort.Sci. 10(2): 216-219 Karuppaiah,P., S. Ramesh kumar and M.Rajkumar. 2006. Effect of different packages on the post harvest behaviour and shelf life of jasmine (Jasminum sambac). Int.J.Agri.Sci. 2(2) : 447- 449 Roy Chowdhury, N., S. Chakrabarty and P. Munsi. 2011. Influence of Packaging Material, Storage REFERENCES Condition and Storage Duration on Vase Life of Tuberose ‘Calcutta Double’. Proc. Xth IS on Flower Bulbs and Herbaceous Perennials. Acta.Hort. 886. pp 359-364 Safeena S.A, M. Thangam, S. Priya Devi, A.R.Desai and N.P.Singh. 2015. Ready Reckoner on Cultivation of Tuberose. Technical Bulletin No:50, ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), Ela, Old Goa-403 402, Goa, India. Thamaraiselvi, S.P, M. Jawaharlal, M. Ganga and N. Varadharaju. 2010. Packaging technology for long term storage of Jasmine (Jasminumsambac Ait.) flowers. J.Orn.Hort. 13 (3) :171-181 (MS Received 06 October 2017, Revised 23 November 2017, Accepted 12 December 2017) J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 12(2) : 198-200, 2017 relative humidity and lower temperature might have favoured the colour retention of tuberose flower. It was found from the studies that areca nut s hea t h c u p wa s f ou nd s u it a b le ec o f r iendly pa cka ging of tu ber ose with higher f r eshness (82.26%), fragrance (71.21%), had shelf life upto 2 days in ambient storage condition when compared to those packaged in banana sheath cup and peepal leaf. In low temper ature stora ge also tuberose flower packaged in areca nut sheath cup had higher freshness index (87.84), colour index (79.63) and fr agra nce index (71.21), as compared to those packaged in banana sheath cup and peepal leaf cup and shelf life of 7 days.