MODELING AND QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF Moringa oleifera LEAVES UNDER DIFFERENT DRYING CONDITIONS

Abstract

Moringa oleifera leaves because of high nutrition content are consumed both in fresh and dried form. In order to find the effect of drying under conventional and controlled conditions on kinetics and quality of dried leaves, freshly harvested, mechanically stripped and washed Moringa leaves were dried by different drying methods viz., sun, shade, solar, vacuum and cabinet drying (45, 50, 55 and 60°C). The drying data was applied to five mathematical models to find out the best fit. The effect of drying on colour and biochemical constituents of Moringa leaves was studied. Study revealed that drying rate increased with drying time. Among the different models, Wang & Singh gave the best fit by higher R2 and lesser χ2 values. The quality analysis of dried Moringa leaves revealed that cabinet drying at 50°C resulted in better quality in terms of colour and nutrient content.