EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT DRYING METHODS ON ESSENTIAL OIL AND CHAMAZOLENE CONTENTS OF CHAMOMILE FLOWERS

Abstract

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is one of the most important medicinal plants that it has been used as an herbal medicine for centuries. In order to determine the effects of drying methods on drying time and qualitative characteristics of chamomile flower, an experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design with six replications at the Special Laboratory, College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad during 2012. Flowers dried at three temperature with oven (30, 40 and 60ᵒC) and natural methods (shaded and sunny airs). The drying process was continued until the moisture content reduced about 10% based on dry weight. The results showed that the effects of different drying methods were significant (p≤0.01) on essential oil and Chamazolene contents of chamomile. The highest Chamazolene and essential oil were observed in shaded air (with 0.8 and 7.6%, respectively) and their lowest were in 60ᵒC oven (with 0.2 and 3.3%, respectively).