Effect of Drying Methods on Physiochemical Characteristics and Mineral Composition of Mulberry Fruits
Effect of Drying Methods on Physiochemical Characteristics and Mineral Composition of Mulberry Fruits
Ishtiaq Ahmad1*, Muhammad Nafees1, Maryam2, Irfan Ashraf3, Ambreen Maqsood4 and Muhammad Saqib5
ABSTRACT
Mulberry fruits (Morus alba and M. nigra) are highly nutritious that can be used to mitigate malnutrition of human beings, however have very low shelf-life. The present study was aimed at evaluation of different drying methods to improve shelf-life of dry mulberry fruits for their sustainable availability in the market for human consumption. For this purpose, common drying methods viz., sun drying, shade drying and oven drying were applied on freshly harvested black and white mulberry fruits to evaluate the significant drying method with minimal nutritional losses. The fruit samples were collected from mulberry plants growing at the experimental area, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Analysis of variance showed significant effect of drying methods on fruit quality of mulberry (p ≤ 0.05). There was significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in fresh and dry fruit weight, fruit width and area, and Cu contents of both the species in spectrophotometer. Reduction in fruit weight, fruit area and moisture percentage were significantly higher in oven dry method, followed by sundry with minimum reduction in shade dry method. The depletion in Cu and Fe contents was statistically high in oven drying method, followed by shade dry and sun drying, respectively; however, Zn and Mn contents were not significantly affected by any of drying method. Cu contents were significantly higher in black mulberry; however, Fe, Mn and Zn were similar in both species. This study concluded that sundry is better than all other methods with significantly less reduction in studied minerals.
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November 2022
Vol.38, Iss. 5, Pages 1-396
