Effect of drying condition on physicochemical and antioxidant properties of dried Moringa leaf powder

Profile of physicochemical and antioxidant activity of dried Moringa leaves fromBangladesh are presented. Moringa is beneficial for health because it has a lot ofnutritional and medicinal values. The leaves were collected and washed with distilledwater at different temperatures in an oven dryer, and then the fine powder is taken as asample by grinding and sieving method. This research was done to compare the changesin physicochemical and antioxidant elements at different temperatures (60°C, 70°C and80°C) and to find the right temperature at which the nutrient loss will be the lowest. Thisstudy showed that as the drying temperature changed, so did the nutrient component ofMoringa leaves. Physicochemical parameters (moisture, ash, protein, carbohydrate, fat,color) and antioxidant activity (Total phenol content, DPPH free radical scavengingactivity, vitamin C, and ß-carotene) were extracted using a variety of methods. The proteincontent, carbohydrate content was estimated by the Kjeldahl and phenol sulfuric acidmethod respectively. Total phenol content (38.30 mg/100g), DPPH (77.79%), and ßcarotene (22.71mg/100g) were measured by the spectrophotometric method. And thecolorimeter instrument is used for determining the optical properties. It can be seen thatthe moisture, ash, protein, carbohydrate, Total phenol content, Vitamin C, DPPH freeradical scavenging activity, ß-carotene contents decrease significantly with increasingdrying temperature, whereas fat content increases. At 60°C drying temperature thenutrient loss was lowest compared to 70°C and 80°C drying temperature, so it can beconcluded that 60°C is the most suitable temperature for drying Moringa leaves.