Effect of Drying Methods on Drying Kinetics, Nutritional Composition and Quality Parameters of Asthma Plant (Euphorbia hirta L.)

Asthma plant (Euphorbia hirta L.) is a small annual documented weed contains many phytochemicals that have disease preventing properties. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of different drying methods viz., solar tunnel drying, tray drying, dehumidified air drying and shade drying on drying kinetics and nutritional composition of asthma plant. Dehumidified drying took least time (10.5 h) compared to other drying methods and the drying took place only in the falling rate. The logarithmic model was best fitted for the samples dried under dehumidified air dryer with the highest R² value of 0.9989 and least RMSE value of 0.0096. Better retention of nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, crude fiber, crude fat and total ash in de-humidified air drying compared to other drying methods. The drying method doesn't have significant effect on the physico-chemical properties of asthma plant viz., colour, pH, water activity and ascorbic acid content.