Evaluation of the Colour of Dried Dutch Rose Flowers Using a Colorimeter Mohammed Azhar Bintory * , Seetharamu GK, Munikrishnappa PM, Ramegowda GK and Basavaraj G Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture,College of Horticulture, UHS Campus, GKVK, Bengaluru, India * Corresponding author: Mohammed Azhar Bintory, Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture,College of Horticulture, UHS Campus, GKVK, Bengaluru, India, Tel: 7795213657; E-mail: mabintory@gmail.com, fdu097@gmail.com Rec date: Jun 28, 2015; Acc date: Aug 17, 2015; Pub date: Aug 20, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Bintory MA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract The visual appearance of flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the first quality determination made by the consumer. Often the appearance of the commodity is the most critical factor in the initial sale. The flower colour of fresh and dried Dutch rose varieties at Regional Horticultural Research and Extension Centre, UHS (Campus) GKVK, Bengaluru was documented using a Minolta CR-10 portable tristimulus colorimeter. With the colorimeter, flower chromaticity was recorded in Commission Internationale d’ Eclairage L*, C* and h° colour space coordinates. In this system of colour representation the values L*, C* and h°, where L value corresponds to the brightness of the flower, C describes the intensity of the colour and h° represents the hue angle. The colorimeter, however, allowed the description of colours that fell between the colour charts and had the ability to compare the specific colour attributes of different varieties of similar and different colour. The ability to interpolate colours with the colorimeter allows a greater precision in documentation and discrimination of flower colour. Keywords: Dutch rose; Minolta CR-10 colorimeter; Lightness; Chroma; Hue angle Introduction Rose as cut fower has great demand in the internal as well as export markets. Te demand for cut fowers is increasing day by day with the increasing standard of living, aesthetic sense and awareness in the people. Fresh rose fowers though exquisite in their beauty are highly perishable and delicate in nature and cannot retain their beauty and fresh look for a long time in spite of using best chemicals for enhancing vase life. Moreover, there is a non-availability of fresh fowers all-round the year in all places [1]. In this context rose fowers can be dried, preserved and processed to retain its beauty as well as everlasting value. Dried fowers are long lasting, can be used several times and also meet the decorative demand throughout the year [2]. With growing eco-consciousness, the use of more and more nature- friendly things like dry fowers come as a natural choice for decoration. Te life of dried fowers varies according to the species, texture of their petals and total consistency of fowers. Dried fowers can be efectively used for making decorative foral craf items for interior decoration and commercial exploitation [3]. Considering the potential of Dutch roses in dry fower trade, the present studies were undertaken to evaluate the colour of dried Dutch rose fowers of diferent drying methods using a colorimeter Minolta CR-10. It was selected as an improved colour measurement to more accurately describing the colour. Materials and Methods Dutch rose fowers were evaluated on the plants that were grown under greenhouse condition. Flower petals of both fresh and dried fowers was measured under natural daylight conditions using the colorimeter. Te colour parameters corresponding to the uniform colour space CIELAB were obtained directly from the apparatus. Colour measurements: Colour measurements of the surface colour of fresh and dried fower petals of Dutch rose varieties (Taj Mahal, Gold Strike, Noblesse, and Avalanche) were evaluated with Minolta CR-10 colorimeter at CIE D65/2° illuminative/viewer conditions. Parameters measured were L* (brightness), C* (chroma) and h° (hue angle). Te colours were expressed as CIE L*, C* and h° values and the average of fve fowers of each varieties was used. Te CIE L*C* h° system is a one colour system that takes into account all aspects to describe colour. Te L* describes the lightness of the colour, its an appropriate measurement of luminosity, which is the property according to which each colour can be considered as an equivalent to a number of the gray scale, between black and white taking values within the range 0-100. Te C* describes the chroma (saturation) of the colour, a measure of how far from the grey tone the colour is. Te higher the C* value the more saturated the colour is. Te last parameter h°, describes the hue of the colour, i.e. colour tonalities (red, green, yellow etc.). Tis is based on the CIE L*C* h° system [4,5]. A red colour has h° around 0° while yellow is described by h° around 90°. In this way, it’s easy to predict that for instance h°-45° corresponds to orange. Dried fower of two diferent drying methods viz., Air drying and Hot air oven drying were assessed for colour by using colorimeter. Results and Discussion Te data pertaining to the lightness, chroma and hue angle of fresh and dried Dutch rose fowers is presented in Table 1. Infuence of lightness, chroma and hue angle of fresh fowers using colorimeter had showed signifcant diference with respect to Dutch rose varieties, maximum lightness (87.18) was recorded in var. Avalanche. Whereas, it was minimum (20.33) in var. Taj Mahal. With respect to the chroma (saturation) maximum was in var. Gold Strike (60.40) and it was minimum with var. Noblesse (20.10). Te highest hue angle was noticed in the var. Avalanche (97.02°), minimum was recorded in var. Taj Mahal (5.20°). Tis is supported by Ayala-Silva et Bintory, et al., J Horticulture 2015, 2:4 DOI: 10.4172/2376-0354.1000157 Research Article Open Access J Horticulture ISSN:2376-0354 Horticulture, an open access journal Volume 2 • Issue 4 • 1000157 Journal of Horticulture J o u r n a l o f H o r ti c u l t u r e ISSN: 2376-0354