ANATOMICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES ON CALOPHYLLUM INOPHYLLUM FRUIT SEED

Abstract

Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) is an incredible plant to humans because of its pharmacognostic and nutraceutical properties. Moringa oleifera contains vital nutrients such as minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals such as tannins and flavonoids. The present work aims to study the optimization and quality attributes retention in moringa flower through freeze dryer (FD) because the conventional drying process takes more time and energy which also affects the product quality and safety. Different solvents, such as ethanol, chloroform, hexane, acetone and ethyl acetate, were used to determine the presence of phytochemicals (alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, steroids, terpenoids and saponins) in the moringa flower. From Qualitative and quantitative screenings of moringa flower, the phytochemicals were highly present in methanol and ethanol extracts. Dried moringa flower powder was prepared by using fresh moringa flower, steam blanched for 2-5 min and then sulfated at 0.1 % for 10 min. After that, the dehydration process was performed at different temperatures (45, 55 and 65°C) in an FD drier. FD dried moringa flower powder at 55⁰C was found maximum physicochemical properties and higher retention of phytochemical with special reference to β – carotene (55.41 mg), total antioxidant (460.18 mg), flavonoids (19.34 mg/RE), phenol (234.13 mg/GAE), vitamin C (485.09 mg). Keywords: Moringa flower, Freeze dryer, nutraceutical and phytochemicals.