International Journal of Engineering Science Invention (IJESI)

ISSN (Online): 2319 – 6734, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 6726

www.ijesi.org ||Volume 7 Issue 1|| January 2018 || PP. 34-44

Temperature Effect on Drying And Phytochemicals of Basil

Leaves
1
M. R. Parmar*, 2V. B. Bhalodiya, 3S. S. Kapdi,
(Anand Agricultural University, Anand 388 110, India)
Corresponding Author: M. R. Parmar

Abstract: Basil is a most popular aromatic and annual herb. Immediately after its harvesting, the highly
perishable raw material, i.e. leaves, have to be preserved against deterioration and spoilage. More often,
during peak period, most of the crop is lost/wasted due to lack of proper post-harvest processing techniques.
Drying is by far the most widely used treatment, which needs to be performed very carefully and preciously so
as to preserve the aroma and color of the leaves. Drying treatment and experimental method fluidized bed
drying was carried out at the temperatures of 45°C, 55°C and 65°C to find and suggest the optimum drying
condition for acquiring quality dried basil leaves and phytochemical like uginol , caryophyll of basil
leaves..Results have revealed that ‘total drying time’ is considerably reduced with the increase in drying air
temperatures from 45°C to 65°C. It could be recommended that for the best drying temperature is 45°C of
basil leaves to retain the various phytochemicals., fluidized bed dryer at 45ºC for 30 seconds steam blanched
sample ensuring the best results in quality and phytochemicals of basil leaves.
Keywords: drying, drying characteristics, basil leaves, fluidized bed drying, phytochemicals
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Date of Submission: 05-01-2018 Date of acceptance: 30-01-2018
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I. Introduction
The use of basil and other spicy herbs in food preparations are not just only for flavoring from their
strong spicy aroma, but also for other purposes such as their medicinal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral
or antimicrobial properties (Risch, 1997). Proper drying of this important crop happens to be the most common
and effective method that could vastly increases the shelf life of such spicy herbs by inhibiting the growth of
microorganisms and preventing the onset of some biochemical reactions. It ultimately may alter the organoleptic
and nutritional characteristics of dried leaves. Basil crops stored at high moisture content generally get
deteriorated because of microbiological growth. One of the most common preservation methods to avoid such
conditions or scenarios for herbs and spices remains drying. Proper drying of basil leaves or any such material,
is not only improving the quality of product, but also reducing various costs involved in its processing,
marketing and other in tangible means. For situations like India, the transport and storage costs are amply high,
which could be significantly lowered after proper drying operations of such crops. It happens because of the
reason that weight and volume gets drastically reduced to facilitate the storage and transport of leaves at lower
costs. This altogether established the importance of drying for basil and alike medicinal crops. Since this process
consists simultaneous heat and moisture transfers which inevitably requires various kinds of systems, crops and
their varieties have different structures, shapes and characteristics and therefore, they have altogether different
drying behaviors. Understanding these drying behaviors and their proper planning and conductance undoubtedly
remained one of the biggest needs for the growers and accordingly a big challenge for the researchers. The
major focus for drying such leaves often remained centered around a point where its aroma needs to be
preserved beside the appearance and nutritional characteristics. Researchers (Diaz-Marotoet al., 2002; Brophy et
al., 1986; Fleisher, 1981) have reported that improper drying may cause losses in volatilities or formation of
new volatilities as a result of oxidation and esterification reactions.
The volatile composition of basil is found to be dependent on the variety and/or geographical
cultivation of the basil plant depending upon main components (Linalool, methyl cinnamate, eugenol, methyl
eugenol, and etc.) of this precious herb. The majority of findings have revealed this fact where the drying is
reported to influence changes in the volatile compounds present in basil. If we look from quantitative points of
view, these decreases in the total amounts of essential oils have been reported to varied tune, say being 36% to
45% for sweet basil during drying at ambient temperature (Nykanen and Nykanen, 1987; 1989). A study by
Yousif et al. (1999) showed significant difference in concentrations of linalool and methyl chavicol in air-dried
basil samples compared to those present in fresh samples, while that of vacuum dried samples showed
substantial increase of about 2.5 fold for linalool and 1.5 fold for methyl chavicol, compared to that present in
air-dried samples. Di Cesare et al. (1994; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003) found microwave drying to retain high

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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

percentages of characteristic volatile compounds (eucalyptol, linalool, eugenol, and methyl eugenol) in basil
(Ocimum basilicum L.) compared to samples dried by air-drying and freeze-drying with blanching, except
freeze-dried unblanched leaves. Other studies on drying methods on volatilities of leaf (Diaz-Maroto et al.,
2002), and spearmint (Diaz-Maroto et al., 2003) too have given such logical variability.
In general type, variety and production practices of the crop, its chemical composition and
susceptibility to heat treatment, pretreatment given, method and conditions of drying and climatic conditions are
important factors affecting drying. Consumers prefer processed products that keep more of their original
characteristics. For that a study on temperature effect in fluidized bed drying for drying and phytochemicals of
basil leaves was carried out .Amin et al. (2013) conducted certain drying experiments at varied air temperatures
and offered a Genetic Algorithm which could find the best Feed-Forward Neural Network (FFNN) structure to
model the moisture content of dried Basil in most of the conditions. This ultimately facilitated better predictions
of moisture content of dried basil leaves, which in turn has direct impacts on drying of basil leaves. Yuparat et
al. (2014) utilized some of the predictive models to evaluate the performances as well as influences of certain
parameters towards drying of leaves and other similar materials by fitting prevailing moisture versus time data
to five different crop drying models. The drying constants were well related to the drying temperatures. The
ultimate findings of Abdollah et al. (2014) reflected the facts that (1) drying temperatures can decrease essential
oil contents of basil, (2) drying methods can change the chemical profile of essential oil of basil, and (3) oven
drying at 400C had the least effect on essential oil.
Looking into plethora of such studies and their findings towards temperature effects on drying and
volatile components of basil leaf, present research was conceived and conducted in India whose preliminary
results are reported herein. The major aim of the work was to examine the influence of various drying methods
and retention of phytochemical on a couple of crop varieties as cultivated in India, in particularly its western
part nearing state of Gujarat. At least two varieties of Ocimum sanctum are mostly found in cultivation, out of
which the green type (Sri Tulsi) is the most widespread. The other one known as Krishna Tulsi, bears purple
leaves (Anon., 1966) and has equal importance and considerations in the region. The results of this study have
provided ample food for visualizing and adopting most effective drying method for basil leaves cultivated in this
specific region of India, to promote its market/utility and also to maintain its nutritional value and other
qualitative parameters in an optimum manner.

II. Materials And Methods

Materials and Equipments:
Basil plants were grown in the campus.. The variety of basil grown for the experiment was the green
basil. In the green basil, varieties were kept same as far as possible. The plant leaves were manually nibbed from
the basil plant and cleaned with water spray at evening so as to remove dust and other impurities. Soft stem were
separated from the leaves manually if left during nibbing. Care was taken to avoid bruised and discoloured
leaves. For drying of basil leaves fluidized bed dryer was used. For chemical analysis, pH meter for pH
determination, spectrophotometer for chlorophyll content determination, clevenger type apparatus for volatile
oil measurement and GC-MS for active ingredients determination were used.

Blanching:
In preliminary experiment hot water blanching was carried out using the method described by Ranganna (1986)
for catalase and peroxidase analysis.
Measurement of Variables:
Methods used to measure different variables are described below:
Air temperature:
Air temperature was measured using digital temperature recorder (capacity: 0 – 200 °C, least count:
0.1°C). The air temperature was controlled within ±0.1°C during the experiment by adjusting the thermostat.

Air velocity:
Air velocity was determined by using the digital anemometer (Agrawal Electronics, Mumbai-Model
8903). The velocity range of anemometer was 0.1- 35.0 m/s. Air velocity was kept 2 m/s in the fluidized bed
dryer.
Moisture content:
The method described in AOAC (1990) was used to determine the moisture content. A metallic dish
was dried in oven at 110 °C for a period of one hour. It was quickly covered, cooled in desiccator and weighed
(W1). A 5 g sample was kept in thin layer on the metallic dish and weighed as quickly as possible to avoid loss
of moisture (W2). The sample was kept in hot air oven maintained at 100 + 5 °C. The sample was dried for
about 4 h until two to three consecutive weights remained constant and final weight was recorded (W 3). The
moisture content was calculated using the formula:

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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

% Moisture content =
W2  W1   W3  W1  100 ………… (3.1)
W3  W1 
Where,
W1 = Weight of empty metallic dish, g
W2 = Weight of metallic dish with sample, g
W3 = Weight of metallic dish with dried sample, g

Experimental Procedure:
Basil leaves were subjected to drying at various temperatures were studied in term of chlorophyll
content, volatile oil and pH characteristics of dried samples. The flow chart of basil leaves drying is explained in
Fig.

Cleaning:
Fresh basil leaves were taken from the plants grown in campus and thoroughly cleaned before manual
nibbing. The soft stems were removed and basil leaves were separated and cleaned manually to remove soil and
dust particles if any attached to it.

Sample preparation :
Cleaned basil leaves were weighed in digital balance (Simanzu make, Capacity: 220 g, least count: 0.01
g). Samples were prepared and placed in wire basket for fluidized bed dryer.. The sample weight kept in each
temperature was 100 g.

Pretreatment of sample:
Weighed basil leaves were pretreated by steam blanching for 30 seconds by keeping them in a sieve
above the boiled hot water to receive the steam coming from it. Steam blanched samples were placed over a
perforated tray to separate the stuck leaves during steaming. After that weight sample of leaves was loaded into
wire basket in fluidized bed dryer. Fresh sample without pretreatment was used as

Fig 1: Flow chart of basil leaves drying

Drying Methods Used :

The drying of basil leaves was carried out using fluidized bed dryer. Treatment was carried out with
samples in triplicate. Each 100 g blanched and unblanched samples were uniformly spread in wire basket for
fluidized bed dryer and dried at the desired temperature. The moisture loss was recorded at every 60 min
interval using top pan digital balance.

Fluidized bed drying:

The drying experiments were performed in laboratory fluidized bed dryer Plenum chamber of dryer
consists of a truncated conical base having bottom diameter of 0.21 m and top diameter of 0.30 m. The height of
cylindrical column is 0.73 m. An air supply unit to fluidize the sample is provided at the bottom with centrifugal
blower coupled with three phase 1 hp electric motor and a flow regulating device to regulate the air flow rate.
Air is heated with two electric heaters of 1 kW each to regulate the temperature of hot air. The blanched and
unblanched basil leaves samples (100 g) each were dried by spreading them in single layer in the perforated
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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

wire basket placed in the plenum chamber. The hot air was supplied through the bottom of the plenum chamber
at the specified temperature (45, 55, 65 °C) and at 2 m/s air velocity. This air velocity was maintained using
adjustable flab at the air inlet and measured with digital anemometer. The moisture loss from the leaves was
recorded at every 15 min interval during drying using top pan digital weighing balance. The drying process was
stopped when the moisture content reached to about 4 – 6 % (db). The product was then cooled for 10 minutes
after drying and packed in LDPE bags. All the experiments were conducted in triplicate for each air temperature
and pretreatment. The average values are reported.

Packing of dried leaves:

The dried basil leaves were packed in LDPE bags (film thickness 95 micron) sealed air – tight and
stored at room temperature till used for analysis.

Extraction and Estimation of Chlorophyll from Leaf Tissue:

Total chlorophyll present in the dried basil leaves was measured using following method described by
Hiscox and Israelstam (1979):The chlorophyll pigment of the plant leaf (material) was extracted with dimethlyl
sulphide (DMSO) and estimated spectrophotometrically at 663 and 645 nm as chlorophyll „a‟ and „b‟
absorbs this wavelength..

Estimation of Volatile Oil:

Sample preparation:
For the estimation of volatile oil in the dried basil leaves, minimum 50 g dried sample was taken. To
collect 50 g dried sample, at least 300 g fresh leaves were collected to dry in fluidized bed dryer. For duplication
total 600 g. Fresh leaves were collected and dried for volatile oil sample analysis.
Determination of volatile oil content:
The volatile oil content of basil leaves was estimated as described by the Bureau of Indian Standards
(SP: 18(part Vii)-1982)50 g of basil leaves were transferred into 1 liter round bottomed flask and then water was
added to fill the flask slightly less than half full and mixed by swirling. To this few glass beads were also added.
The flask was connected through calibrated oil trap to the condenser. The mixture was distilled for four hours
until there was no increase in the oil content over a period of 1 hour. The setup was cooled to room temperature
and allowed to stand until the oil layer was clear. The volatile oil was collected in the trap, was measured in ml
as shown in Plate 3.7

GC - MS Conditions:
For the identification of the volatiles compounds, some samples were subjected to GC- MS analysis on
a Perkin Elemer Autosystem Excel with Turbomass. Conditions were as follows:

1. Mode: TIC (Total Ion Chromatogram)

2. Column Type: PE- 5 (MS)
3. Column Oven Temperature: 70 °C (5 minute) -80 °C (10 minute)
4. Injector Temperature: 250 °C
5. Detector: Quadrupole
6. Ion Source Temperature: 250 °C
7. Carrier Gas: Helium
8. Flow Rate: 1ml/min
9. Split Ratio: 1: 5

III. Results And Discussion

Initial Moisture Content:
The basil leaves were collected from the plants grown in campus. samples of the fresh basil leaves was
81.68 % (w. b.) at the time of harvest. The range of moisture content varied from 81.00 - 83.00 % (w. b.), which
shows that the basil leaves can be considered under highly perishable group.

Drying Characteristics of Basil Leaves:

The drying characteristics of basil leaves were analyzed using the experimental data on moisture of
product at various time intervals for different drying conditions. After pretreatment, the samples were dried up
to the safe moisture content level of 4 to 6 % (% d.b.) Relation of time, temperature, moisture content (% d.b.)
and drying rate (% d.b./min) were attempted to characterize the drying behaviour of basil leaves. The
moisture content was compared for the blanched and unblanched samples with different time, temperature for

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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

different dryers.The basil leaves were steamed and thus had some moisture on the surface of basil leaves due to
which blanched shows higher moisture content then actual.

Fluidized bed drying:

It was found from the Figs. 3.3.1 to 3.3.3 that the fluidized bed drying took less time in higher
temperature than the lower temperature in the blanched and unblanched samples at the 65, 55 and 45 oC
temperatures respectively.. It was also observed that the moisture reduction was more in the blanched leaves
than the unblanched leaves drying for all the temperatures.The effect on drying time was found more prominent
with blanched than the unblanched samples for the temperature 45 and 55 °C. However, at higher drying air
temperature of 65 °C, the effect of blanching on drying time was comparatively less. It was also observed that
moisture reduction was rapid initially, which decreased with time in later part of drying for both blanched and
unblanched samples to all the temperatures. The effect of drying air temperature on drying behaviour of basil
leaves for blanched and unblanched samples indicate that as inlet temperature increased, the rate of moisture
reduction also increased.
As data plotted in curves presented in the below figures, it was observed that for 45 °C, the initial
moisture content 437.63 % (d.b.) was reduced to 5.74 % (d.b.) in 240 minute and initial moisture content
476.27 % (d.b.) reduced to 5.46 % (d.b.) in 120 minute for unblanched and blanched basil samples, respectively,
whereas for temperature 55 °C, the initial moisture content 426.32 % (d.b.) was reduced to final moisture
content to 5.26 % ( d.b.) in 135 minute and initial moisture content 473. 03 % (d.b.) reduced to 4.87 % (d.b.) in
75 minute for unblanched and blanched on drying behaviour of basil leave The effect of temperature was found
more prominent for blanched basil leaves. The initial moisture content 476.27, 473.03, and 473.03 (% d.b.) were
reduced to final moisture content of 5.46, 4.87 and 4.87 (% d.b.) in 120, 75, and 60 minute for 45, 55 and 65 °C
temperatures respectively. In the case of unblanched samples, the initial moisture 437.63, 426.32 and 449.45 (%
d.b.) were reduced to final moisture content of 5.74 %, 5.26 % and 4.37 (% d.b.) in 240,135 and 75 minute for
45.55 and 65 °C temperatures, respectively. At temperature 45 °C the colour was like very much similar as the
fresh samples and at the 55 and 65 °C temperatures, colour, appearance and texture are also good in the
blanched samples.

Fig.3.3.1 : Variation In Moisture Content Of Basil Leaves With Drying Time For Fluidized
Bed Drying At 45 °C

500
450
400
Moisture Content, % d.b.

Unblanched Blanched
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Time, min

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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

Fig. 3.3.2 : Variation In Moisture Content Of Basil Leaves With Drying Time For Fluidized Bed Drying At 55
°C

500
450
400
Moisture Content, % d.b.
Unblanched Blanched
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Time, min

Fig. 3.3.3 : Variation In Moisture Content Of Basil Leaves With Drying Time For Fluidized Bed
Drying At 65 °C

Effect Of Drying Conditions On Chlorophyll Content Of Basil Leaves :

The chlorophyll content of fresh and dried basil leaves was determined by spectrophotometric analysis.
The chlorophyll content of fresh basil leaves was found to be 22.92 mg/100g tissue. fluidized bed dryer has
chlorophyll 8.41 to 14.46 mg/100g tissue.

Table 3.4.1 : Experimental Results On Chlorophyll Content Of Basil Leaves

Type of Temperature Treatment Chlorophyll content Loss in chlorophyll
dryer (°C) Unblanched (UB) / (mg/100 g of tissue) content
blanched (B) (%)

Fluidized 45 UB 10.19 55.52

bed dryer B 14.46 36.92
55 UB 9.25 59.62
B 13.75 39.99
65 UB 8.41 63.31
B 12.89 43.73

Maximum chlorophyll content (14.46 mg/100g tissue) was found in the blanched sample dried at 45 °C
and minimum (8.41 mg/100g tissue) was found in unblanched sample dried at 65 °C. The loss in chlorophyll
content compared to fresh sample was in the range of 36.9 to 63.30%, with more losses observed at higher

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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

drying temperature. This may be due to the fact that chlorophyll degradation in basil leaves is temperature
dependent and followed first order reaction kinetics (Ahmed et al. 2001).

Effect of Drying Conditions on Volatile Oil Content:

Volatile oil content of dried basil leaves is presented in Table 3.5.1. It showed that volatile oil of
samples varied from 0.50 to 0.83 ml/100g d.m. In case of unblanched samples, oil content loss was less as
compared to blanched sample. This might be due to the oil content loss during the blanching treatment. For
example drying of basil leaves at 45, 55 and 65 0C temperatures, the volatile oil content was found as 0.0.83,
0.0.61 and 0.55 ml/100g d.m., respectively, in the unblanched samples. Whereas, 0.82, 0.60 and 0.50 ml/100g
d.m., respectively, in case of blanched samples.. The volatile content of fresh sample was 1.36-ml/100g d.m.
Loss of volatile oil content was higher when basil leaves were dried at higher temperature. This might be
because of the breakage of oil cell due to heating, which leads to loss of volatile oil. It was also observed that
although at higher temperature the drying time was shorter, the loss of volatile oil was higher.From the Table
3.5.14, it was revealed that volatile loss was minimum (39.71 % d.m. in the blanched samples) at the 45 °C
temperature in unblanched samples loss was minimum to 38.98 %.

Table 3.5.1: Experimental Data On Volatile Oil Content On Dried Basil Leaves
Type of dryer Temperatur Treatment Volatile oil Loss in Volatile oil
e Unblanched (UB) (ml/100 g d.m.) (%)
(°C) / blanched (B)
Fluidized bed 45 UB 0.83 38.98
dryer B 0.82 39.71
55 UB 0.61 55.13
B 0.60 55.89
65 UB 0.55 59.56
B 0.50 63.24

Effect of Drying Conditions on pH :

pH of the fresh sample of the basil leaves was found 4.86 . Fluidized bed drying pH was decreased for
all three temperatures except at 45 °C temperature there was no gain or loss in pH for blanched samples, at 65
°C pH was increased for unblanched samples.

Table 3.6.1 : Experimental results on pH of dried basil leaves.

Type of Temperatu Treatment pH of dried Loss /gain in

dryer re Unblanched (UB) leaves pH
(°C) / blanched (B) (%)
Fluidized 45 UB 4.77 -1.75
bed dryer B 4.86 0.00
55 UB 4.70 -3.19
B 4.76 -2.06
65 UB 4.92 +1.34
B 4.71 -2.98

Effect of Drying Conditions on Active Ingredients :

Blanching resulted into the good colour. Hence, blanched samples were taken for further GC-MS
analysis to identify the volatile compounds in the fresh basil leaves and as well as in blanched basil leaves dried
at the temperature 45, 55 and 65 °C in fluidized bed dryer. Fig. 3.7.1 shows a typical chromatogram obtained
from a fresh sample from GC-MS analysis and Table 3.7.1 shows the percentage composition of the identified
compounds as calculated from the respective chromatographic areas. There are, mainly eugenol (61.69 %) and
in minor proportion caryophyllene (28.77 %) remaining peaks correspondence to compounds that were not
identified
.
Table 3.7.1: Active Ingredients Available In Fresh Basil Leaves
Peak Compound Area (%)

1 Eugenol 61.69
2 Caryophyllene 28.77

The two major volatile compounds in fresh basil leaves samples were eugenol and caryophyllene
usually considered responsible for the typical basil aroma. Similar results were reported by (Anon.,1966). The
area under the chromatographic peaks of the other compounds is small.

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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

Fig. 3.7.1: Gas chromatograph of fresh basil leaves

Effect of drying conditions on eugenol compound :

Table 3.8.1 shows the eugenol percentage in the dried blanched basil leaves in fluidized bed drying at
45, 55 and 65 °C temperature. In the fresh basil leaves eugenol was 61.69 % and Caryophyllene was 28.77 %.
In the fluidized bed drying blanched basil leaves at 45 °C temperature the eugenol remains almost same as the
fresh basil leaves being 61.34%, while at 55 °C temperature, the eugenol was 35.27 % and for 65 °C
temperature it was 32.77 %, which shows that the eugenol was affected by the higher temperature and reduced
almost half at 55 °C and 65 °C temperatures in the fluidized bed drying.
The eugenol was found highest in fluidized bed drying at 45 °C temperatureand followed by 55 and 65 °C

Table 3.8.1 : Eugenol content in the dried basil leaves

Type of Temperatu Treatment Eugenol Eugenol content

dryer re Blanched Content in fresh in dried leaves
(°C) (B) leaves (%)
(%)
Fluidized 45 B 61.69 61.34
bed dryer 55 B 61.69 35.27
65 B 61.69 32.77

Effect Of Drying Conditions On Caryophyllene Compound :

The percentage retentions of the second major volatile compound i.e caryophyllene. in the blanched
basil leaves after fluidized bed drying are reported in Table 3.9.1 . It shows that as compared to caryophyllene in
the fresh sample of basil leaves it increased in basil leaves dried . This trend was observed similar to trend
observed by Mondal (2007).

Table 3.9.1 : Caryophyllene content in the dried basil leaves

Type of dryer Temperature Treatment Caryophyll Caryophyll
(°C) Blanched (B) Content in fresh content in dried
leaves leaves
(%) (%)
Fluidized bed 45 B 28.77 28.60
dryer 55 B 28.77 55.62
65 B 28.77 59.02

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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

Overall Acceptability:
The maximum value of active ingredients (Eugenol and caryophyllene) corresponds to fluidized bed
drying at 45°C temperature for blanched sample of basil leaves. The volatile oil, at 45 °C for blanched sample
was higher among all the samples. The blanched samples dried at 45 °C in the fluidized bed samples also
resulted into maximum chlorophyll
.
Storage Behaviour of Dried Basil Leaves:
The blanched sample dried at 45 °C temperature in fluidized bed dryer resulted into maximum
chlorophyll content, volatile oil and eugenol content hence was selected for the storage characteristics to find
out biochemical changes and active ingredient during storage period. The effects of storage period on
biochemical content and active ingredient are presented in table 3.11.1 & 3.11.2. The eugenol and caryophyllene
content were determined by GC and are shown in Fig. 3.11.1.

Table 3.11.1: Biochemical content of dried basil leaves at room temperaturestorage.

Biochemical content Storage period (in days)
0 15 30 45 60
Chlorophyll,mg/100mg 14.45 14.01 13.45 13.26 12.12
Volatile oil, ml 0.82 0.75 0.65 0.50 0.30
pH 4.86 4.86 4.90 5.01 5.05

Table 3.11.2: Active ingredients content of dried basil leaves at room temperature storage.
Active Storage period (in days)
0 15 30 45 60
ingredient

Eugenol (%) 61.34 61.04 47.31 45.04 27.72

Caryophyllene (%) 28.60 30.72 41.24 44.27 58.43

A B

C D
Fig. 3.11.1 Eugenol and caryophyllene content of dried basil leaves stored at 45°C after different intervals: (A)
15 days; (B) 30 days;(C) 45 days and (D) 60 days

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 Temperature Effect On Drying And Phytochemicals Of Basil Leaves

Effect Of Storage Time On Biochemical Content:

Table 4.12 showed data on chlorophyll, volatile, pH at 0,15,30,45,and 60 days of storage. It was
observed chlorophyll reduced 3.08 % at 15 days, 6.95 % at 30 days, 8.27 % at 45 days and 16.14 % at 60 days,
whereas volatile oil loss during the storage was 8.52%, 20.73 %, 39.02% and 0.63 % at 15, 30, 45 and 60 days
respectively. It shows that almost more than half volatile oil loss occurred in 60 days. It was also observed that a
negligible increase in pH value of dried basil leaves from 4.86 to 5.05 during storage at 60 days.The chlorophyll
and volatile oil loss due to its sensitiveness to heat as well as exposer to the oxygen as reported by Rayaguru
(2007) and Sablani (2006)

Effect of storage time on active ingredients:

As shown in Table 3.11.2, the eugenol reduced from 61.34. to 27.62 in 60 days storage. It shows that
as the storage period increases the eugenol content reduces. Similar was not observed as in case caryophyllene.
Caryophyllene increases as the storage period increases.

IV. CONCLUSIONS
The present investigation entitled “Temperature effect on drying and phytochemicals of basil leaves ”
was carried out to develop dried basil leaves / powder so as to enhance the availability of basil leaves / powder
in lean period. Basil leaves were steam blanched for 30 second for pretreatment. The blanched and unblanched
samples of 100 g weight were loaded in in the fluidized bed dryer at constant air velocity at 2 m/s at temperature
45, 55 and 65 °C. Unblanched basil leaves were dried as control samples. The effect of drying conditions on
chlorophyll content, volatile oil and pH were also investigated. The active ingredients in basil leave viz. eugenol
and caryophyllene were also studied. Storage behaviour of the best sample selected having maximum retention
of volatile oil content and chlorophyll content in the dried basil leaves was studied for a period of 60 days. On
the basis of experimental results and data analysis the following conclusions are drawn given as under.
1. Total drying time considerably reduced with the increase in drying air temperature from 45 °C to 65 ° C
temperatures.
2. The whole drying took place in falling rate period only.
3. Blanched sample took less time for drying compared to unblanched samples in each dryer at every
temperature from 45, 55 and 65 °C temperature.
4. Chlorophyll content was found higher in case of blanched samples then unblanched samples of basil leaves.
5. Volatile oil was found slightly less in the blanched samples in comparison to unblanched samples of basil
leaves.
6. Volatile oil and chlorophyll content were higher at lower temperature and decreased at higher temperature.
7. Eugenol was found as major active ingredient in the fresh sample of basil leaves, while caryophyllene was
the second major active ingredient.
8. In the dried basil leaves, the caryophyllene increased, while eugenol decreased in most of the dryers at
higher temperatures.
9. Volatile oil, cholorophyll were decreased during storage and pH slightly increased. Eugenol was decreased,
whereas caryophyllene increased during the storage.
10. The product quality in terms of chlorophyll content, volatile oil and pH was found to be most acceptable
when basil leaves blanched with steaming at 30 seconds and dried at 45 °C temperature in the fluidized bed
dryer.

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International Journal of Engineering Science Invention (IJESI) is UGC approved

Journal with Sl. No. 3822, Journal no. 43302.

M. R. Parmar*. “Temperature Effect on Drying And Phytochemicals of Basil Leaves.”

International Journal of Engineering Science Invention (IJESI), vol. 07, no. 01, 2018, pp. 34–44.

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