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In the present study, fresh aerial parts of Ocimum americanum L. were collected from Ramnagar, India and sun and shade drying was applied until constant weights. The fresh and dried plant materials were hydrodistilled by Clevenger apparatus and the extracted oils were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. One-way ANOVA and correlation were performed to evaluate the difference and correlation between drying treatments using SPSS 16.0. The major compounds of the fresh oil were camphor (33.41 %), maillol (11.96 %), β-selinene (8.34 %), α-selinene (6.92 %), β-gurjunene (5.43 %) and (E)-caryophyllene (5.07 %). In the dried samples, significant increase (p < 0.05) in the percentage of camphor and maillol was observed while the percentage of (E)-cayophyllene, β-gurjunene, β-selinene and α-selinene significantly (p < 0.05) decreased during drying process. Drying caused loss of fourteen constituents with appearance of four compounds. The oil yield was the highest under sun drying condition.

Background: The study on drying and its social acceptance has increased rapidly. Among different drying techniques, shade drying is one of the most feasible methods to keep intact from the decay of the main active components of the plant materials. Shade drying is an ancient drying method that increases durability, major constituents and activity of the plant material. Aims: Research was conducted to examine the drying potential of aromatic leaves oil of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. Methods: The fresh plant material was collected from Lohaghat, Champawat district of Uttarakhand and hydrodistilled before and after shade drying to assess the changes in the quality of volatile constituents by GC and GC-MS techniques. A two-tailed paired t-test was executed to assess the difference between drying treatments using MS-Excel. Results: The major components in the fresh oil were 2-undecane, linalool, (E)-β-ocimene, α-pinene and β-phellandrene. In the oil from dried material, the three predominant compounds were noted. A significant increase was observed in the percentage of β-phellandrene, undecanal and myrcene after shade drying (p<0.01). Five components absent in the fresh plant material appeared and one disappeared during the drying process. Conclusion: Shade drying significantly influenced the essential oil composition of Z. armatum.

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Drying is an ancient technique adopted to reduce moisture, preserve aroma profile and increase the shelf life of the food products. During drying, the chemical, nutritional and antioxidant properties of the food can get altered as compared to the fresh material. Natural shade drying is the most accepted storage method for aromatic medicinal herbs because of its low cost and minimum loss of volatile constituents. In the present investigation, the effects of shade drying on the volatile components and antioxidant potential of walnut leaves (Juglans regia) have been studied. For this purpose, fresh walnut leaves were shade dried and hydrodistilled using Clevenger apparatus. The extracted oil was analysed by GC and GC/MS. The antioxidant potential of the oils was evaluated by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH·) radical scavenging activity. The GC and GC/MS analysis identified 46 and 42 compounds representing 89.29% and 96.38% of the total fresh and dried oils, respectively. The composition of the five major components namely (E)-caryophyllene, germacrene D, α-zingiberene, δ-cadinene and (E)-β-farnesene was observed to significantly increase after shade drying. Drying caused appearance of four components with complete loss of eight components. Fresh oil showed better antioxidant activity as compared to the shade dried oil.