Post Harvest Cooling/Storage for Cut Flowers David S.

Ross, Extension Agricultural Engineer, University of Maryland Refrigerated storages provide growers with the capability of extending the useful life of cut flowers and therefore widening the market window for the product. Cut flowers are alive. At lower temperatures flowers have a lower respiration rate and consume their stored energy much slower. The flower stays alive longer at the cooler air temperature. A refrigerated room should be well insulated to keep the outside heat from penetrating to add to the heat load to be removed from the inside. Doors should seal tightly to keep cold air and moisture from leaking out or warm, moist air from leaking in to condense on the cold surfaces. Water vapor moves from high vapor pressure to low vapor pressure. Generally, the cooler the air, the lower the moisture holding capacity and the vapor pressure are. A vapor moisture barrier should be placed on the outside wall side of the insulation to stop the penetration of moisture into the insulation where it might condense and lower the benefit of the insulation. High humidity is desirable in the refrigerated storage to prevent a water vapor differential between the flowers and the air. Keep the humidity high so that the flowers do not dry out and wilt. Flowers need to hold onto their vital moisture content to live. Moisture inside a cold storage room moves from the flower to the air and from the air to the cooling coils of the air conditioning/refrigeration system. The cooling coil (evaporator) typically operates at a lower temperature than the storage room (necessary for heat transfer) and condenses water out of the air onto the cold surface of the coil. The continual water loss contributes to the lower humidity in the storage room air. Examples of this process are shown by condensate dripping from window air conditioners, auto AC units, and regular household units. The air becomes cooler and dryer with most systems. After the air exits the cooling coil it is heated slightly by the storage room air. The greater the difference between the air temperature exiting the coils and the storage room air, the lower the relative humidity will be in the room. This lower relative humidity air has a lower vapor pressure than the flowers and drying will occur again. This is a continuous process. Cooling equipment must be selected correctly to obtain a high relative humidity storage room. The refrigeration system must have a cooling coil (evaporator coil) with a large surface area for the air to pass over. The evaporator must operate at a temperature very close to the storage room air temperature. The temperature differential between the evaporator coil and storage air must be small. The smaller temperature differential, the better conditions are for high relative humidity. Typically, the air velocity is also relatively low for cut flowers so that the air movement does not damage the flowers. The fan may be sized larger in diameter to maintain a large airflow at a low velocity. Large diameter, low velocity fans should be less noisy than smaller diameter high-speed fans. Moisture can be added by spraying water onto the storage room floor and letting it evaporate. Also, water can be sprayed or misted into the room air with a misting nozzle.

old Chain Management What is a Cold Chain exactly? Cold Chain is a logistic system that provides a series of facilities for maintaining ideal storage conditions for perishables, from the point of production to the point of consumption in the entire chain. The various components of a cold-chain are : Procurement and delivery systems Pre-cooling facilities Refrigerated vehicles Chilled Store (Normally for temporary storage) CA Store (Normally for long term storage) Grading, sorting and packaging Warehouses Information systems

Status of Cold Chain Management The cold-chain management is perhaps still the biggest glaring-gap in India's agro-logistics. Cold storage facility is there only for 10% of the produce. As per existing reports, over 3,500 existing cold storage warehouses have only around 13 mn ton storage capacity with old storage technology. Some imminent problems with the cold chain in our country are: The modern Post harvest management is almost non-existent in our country, except for parts. Non-existence of world class Integrated Cold Supply Chain across the country - isolated stores without logistics support The cold storages mainly work on old technology and hence are not that effective. Cold stores are often used for storing low value products. Many a time cold storages opt for short duration storages dictated by market imbalances. Many a time cold storages opt for short duration storages dictated by market imbalances. There is absence of cold storage facilities at most of the airports. At present only six international airports i.e. New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram have these facilities for perishable cargo. Under such circumstances several hours (sometimes even days) would lapse before the cargo could be loaded to the connecting flight. During this time the cargo would remain under high temperatures and low humidity. The result is very obvious. Constricted cargo space on flights: Airlines do not prefer to carry cargo which is seasonal, perishable, voluminous yet not in such large quantity. This is the exact nature of floral cargo. Because of the small volume of flowers they mostly have to be transported on regular flights which have limited cargo-space. Developing an efficient cold-chain: Strategic Advantage for Indian Floriculture The real spirit of the cold chain process is to get the finest products on time, every time, in perfect or precise condition. Appropriate or new technology that can enhance the performance of the cold chain process is no doubt important. However, implementing the right technology is not enough. Cold chain managers must take into consideration that even a minor variation in the temperature can cause damage to the product and maintaining the quality level of the product will be the key. In the times to come, the cold chain will definitely be a strategic competitive advantage, and India has a lot to gain in terms of growth in profits as well as reputation in efficiency and quality in the global floriculture market. The need of the hour is to develop an model which provides a unbroken cold chain to flowers right from the point-of-origin (growers) to the point-of-consumption (customers). Components & major players in the integrated cold chain (refer to Diagram 2) 1)Grower : The grower is a key player in the entire cold chain. Research studies indicate that in many cases

the problem may actually start at this point of origin. Specially in a country like India, where the awareness level of the farmers is not very high and considering that commercial flower cultivation has not really caught-up in a big way like cereals and pulses, there seems to be considerable room for extensive extension activities. The manner and the stage at which a flower crop is harvested may be critical in the chain. Similarly awareness and facilities for modern post-harvest management are the need of the hour. 2. Collection Centres : The primary task at the collection centre is pre-cooling to takeoff the field heat. The flowers cannot be and must not be transported in the field condition and are required to be pre-cooled before shifting them onto refrigerated vans/ trucks/ containers. 3. Refrigerated Transport : In case of road transport we have to use refrigerated vans, and in case of rail transport we may use refrigerated containers. In our country, we need both refrigerated vans and containers in adequate quantity, especially at smaller centres and not just in metros. 4. Terminal/Holding Cold Storages : Normally terminal or holding cold storages must have a pre-cooling facility to reduce the quantity of harmful gases and also a humidity optimizing unit to maintain the right level of moisture level. They also have grading, sorting and packaging facilities. The terminal cold storages at Airports also need to be revamped both in terms of capacity and number. Again the focus has to be on relatively smaller airports rather then focusing only on major airports. Only then a truly intensive network can be developed. 5. Air-Cargo : There is a critical need to create adequate cargospace, both on domestic as well as international circuits. Without that both on domestic and primarily on export front we cannot emerge as a floriculture force to reckon-with. I remember listening to a extension-worker from Srinagar airing his concern an International Floriculture Conference way back in 2005. He said that a freight of flowers was lying at Srinagar airport for about a week, since no airline was ready to carry the cargo. His frustration was palpable, since he was actively involved in motivating the farmers there to takeup flower cultivation. Another problem at airports is the enormous handling and loading time that is taken. This has also to be reduced considerably. APEDA's praiseworthy efforts: APEDA is building cold storage facilities at more than a dozen airports in the country. Besides the six international airports which already have cold-storage facilities, more airports will be covered. Bigger airports like Kochi, Kolkata, Guwahati will have elaborate cold storage facilities, including a receiving area for perishable produce, weighing, X-ray, palletization and storage. Smaller airports such as Tiruchirapalli, Srinagar, Jammu and later on Imphal, Dimapur, Agartala - will have refrigerated containers that can store 810 tonnes of perishable products. The facilties may cost the government in excess of Rs. 55 crore but the more is expected to increase the exports of perishable food products by 25% in a year's time. 6. Receiving Airports : Cold storage facilities must also be ensured at receiving airports. In case of shipping cargo, refrigerated cargo container terminals may serve the purpose. Adequate and swift transportation to the markets must also be ensured. 7. Market/Floral Retail Outlets : The cold chain must not be broken even here. Although in India it may not sound so common, internationally even at florist outlets, cold display boxes are there which have regulated temperature and humidity to maintain the freshness of the flowers. The boxes are transparent to ensure display at the same time. One such product is refrigerated display case for flowers and the like. They are open-top, refrigerated case which may be mounted on a cart, booth or the like. The display case includes a plurality of elongated bins placed side by side in a stepped array from an upper bin at the rear of the case to a blower bin at the front of the case. The bins are thus advantageously arranged to provide a best possible display of merchandise within them. At the same time, the stepped arrangement permits a slow flow of refrigerated air as from back of the case, from the upper bin, and forwardly into the lower bin with the cool air cascading over merchandise especially within the lower bin. The integrated cold chain seeks not only a change in infrastructure but also a change in mindset. The cold chain management in India has to undergo a transformation, both in structure and approach. Let us look through the prism some of the major players and their roles (future) for: Conclusion Cost may come as a limitation but research on successful cold chain models in other countries suggests that

the cost factor starts wearing off with economies of scale. It is just like getting out of the present vicious circle into a virtuous cycle that we are dreamingoff. So with improvement in cold chain logistics the overall trade (both domestic as well as export) will get a boost, leading to large volumes and improved bottomlines. The key is to integrate various elements and stakeholders of cold chain management, forge workable partnerships (even public-private partnerships wherever possible) to realize the vision for an efficient and integrated cold chain management for flowers throughout the country. Of course this has to be followed by aggressive marketing, to see that the demand for Indian flowers goes up both in domestic as well as export markets. This would definitely be a very strong and concrete step forward towards our ex-president Dr. Kalam's dream of seeing a blooming floriculture industry but also gradually make India a key player on the global floriculture scene.