Effect of drying methods on nutritional quality of young shoots and leaves of two Moringa species as non-conventional fodders

Abstract

The present study was conducted to compare the effect of partial shade (PS) and direct sun (DS) drying on the nutritional quality of young shoots and leaves of Moringa oleifera and Moringa peregrina as non-conventional fodder. The chemical composition, total energy, total and individual phenolics, ascorbic acid, carotenoids, antioxidant activity, amino acid and minerals composition of the leaves and young shoots of both species dried by either PS or DS were determined. The Student’s t test was used to compare the parameters obtained for the two drying methods. The results revealed that the effect on chemical composition varied between the two drying methods for both Moringa species. PS dried parts of both species showed significantly lower amount of total phenolics, but higher ascorbic acid and β-carotene. The antioxidant activity of sun dried parts was significantly (p ≤ 0.01) higher than those dried under partial shade. With few exceptions, for both species, PS drying resulted in higher amino acid and minerals contents. It could be concluded that drying method has a great impact on the studied parameters.