EVALUATION OF ANTI-OXIDANT PROPERTIES OF WHEAT GRASS POWDER AS AFFECTED BY DIFFERENT DRYING PROCESSES

Wheatgrass is one grass that has been demonstrated to be of particular use to humans as a nutritional source of vitamins, enzymes, minerals, trace minerals and chlorophyll in addition to its various health benefits. Wheat grass in powder form is a method for preserving wheat grass nutrients with long shelf life and use of wheat grass powder is more convenient than wheat grass juice. Objective: To estimate the antioxidant properties of wheat grass powder obtained by different drying methods. Research Design: Different drying methods used for preparation of wheat grass powder were 1) Hot air oven drying [50˚C, 6 hr and 60˚C, 5hr] 2) Microwave drying [600W, 15 min and 800 W, 10 min] 3) Vacuum oven drying [50˚C, 25kPa, 6 hr]. For estimation of the antioxidant properties of wheat grass powder samples, chlorophyll content, Total Phenol Content and % Anti-Radical Activity were measured. Result: In the quantitative analysis of antioxidant component, microwave dried wheat grass powder samples [600W, 15 min] had highest mean value of total phenol content (25.20), chlorophyll (23.33) and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryllhydrazyl scavenging ability (58.29) in comparison with the other samples of the wheat grass powder obtained by hot air oven drying and vacuum oven drying. Thus it was observed that microwave drying method was the best in comparison to other methods to prepare the wheat grass powder and utilize it daily life.