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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The Sarcocornia genus is an extreme salt-toler-
ant plant that can be cultivated in saline habitats almost
worldwide. To preserve Sarcocornia perennis, convective
drying experiments were conducted and their effects on the
physico-chemical properties and phenolic content of the
plant were studied using conventional and vibrational
spectroscopy techniques. The drying process of Sarcocor-
nia perennis at temperatures of 40 C, 50 C, 60 C and
70 C revealed three periods of convective drying process
with drying times ranging between 4.5 and 24.9 h,
respectively to higher and lower temperatures. The heating-
up period can be neglected as compared with the drying
process, and the duration of constant rate period, as a
percentage of the total drying time, ranged between 34 and
20% respectively at 40 C and 70 C. The Modified Page
model was proposed to describe the drying process at the
different temperatures. From a nutritional point of view,
this halophyte plant may be considered as a good source of
fibres, phenolic compounds and natural minerals, such as
sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. The convec-
tive drying, in the temperature range currently used, was
found to preserve the colour, nutritional characteristics and
phytochemical value of Sarcocornia perennis. These
results were confirmed by FTIR-ATR and highlight the
potential use of the dried plant in novel food products.
Description
Keywords
Halophyte plants Sarcocornia drying process Kinetics FTIR-ATR