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Abstract
Cymbopogon citratus is widely used in nutraceutical industries due to its strong lemony odor for its high content of the aldehyde citral and small quantities of geraniol, geranyl acetate and monoterpene olefins. Present studies were conducted to estimate the essential oil at different drying condition viz., sun-drying, shade-drying and oven-drying and analyzed for physicochemical properties (acid value, saponification value and iodine value). The maximum essential oil (3.05%) recovered in oven drying method while, the minimum saponification value (142.59 mgKOH/g) was recorded in sun drying method, however, the minimum acid value (4.14 mgKOH/g) and iodine value (114.31gI^sub 2^/100g) were recorded in shade drying method. The essential oils were analyzed by GC/MS instruments and identified eleven different components. Among the components identified, geranial (citral-a), neral (citral-b), caryophellene and limonene were found major components in the lemongrass essential oils.
Highlights
High amount of nutraceutical, neral and geranial were recovered by shade drying method. The drying methods do not have any effect on time of oil recovery.
Keywords: Lemongrass, drying, saponification value, iodine value, acid value
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Cymbopogon (family Poaceae) is an important grass having about 120 species which grows in tropical and subtropical regions all over the world. It is highly valued due to their essential oil which is of high commercial value. It is recorded that this genus has about140 species out of which about 45 have been reported from India (Jagadish, 1975). The Cymbopogon species produce essential oils rich in monoterpenes such as citral, dtronellal, citronellol, linalool, elemol, 1,8-cineole, limonene, geraniol, β-carophyllene, methyl heptenone, geranyl acetate and geranyl formate (Ganjewala et al., 2008). On account of their diverse uses in pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and flavor, and agriculture industries, Cymbopogon citratus possesses strong lemony odor because it contains high amount of two geometric isomer of citral aldehyde, viz., geranial and neral, as reported by Shahi et al., (2005). Weiss (1997) also reported that the essential oil of Cumbopogon spp. has small quantities of geraniol, geranyl acetate and monoterpene olefins, such as limonene and myrecene. In another experiment, the oil of C. citratus was extracted by hydro-distillation and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry analysis was carried out by Matasyoh et al., (2011). They reported that the oil was dominated by monoterpene hydrocarbons which...