The effect of different drying methods on the chemical content and antioxidant activity of three cultivars of Iraqi dates

الملخص EN

The current study aimed to study the chemical content and antioxidant activity traits of three cultivars (Dairy, kabkab, Zahdi), dried by different drying methods (Solar, Electric oven, Microwave).

The results of chemical composition of date fruit powders showed that the moisture content decreased during drying by different drying methods, especially when dried in the Microwave, where the microwave-dried Dairy powder recorded the lowest percentage and reached 3.59%, while the percentage of total soluble solids for the same powder increased and was 58.79%, followed by Zahdi powder dried by Microwave 58.38%.

The dried date powder by the different drying methods did not record significant differences in the percentage of ash, total acidity, and pH.

The protein percentage increased when the fruits were dried in the microwave, whereas, Kabkab powder, dried in the electric oven, recorded the highest value in the percentage of fat, which amounted to 0.71%, as for the microwave-dried Zahdi powder, the percentage of fibers increased by 5.95%.

Total sugars increased during solar drying.

The solar-dried Zahdi powder recorded the highest percentage of total sugars and sucrose at 77.41 and 17.27%, respectively.

As for reducing sugars, no significant differences were recorded for all treatments.

The phenolic content of date fruit powders increased when the fruits were dried by different drying methods.

The microwave-dried Zahdi powder recorded the highest phenolic content and reached 70.1 mg 100 gm-1.

The antioxidant activity of date powders increased during various drying processes, Zahdi powder dried by microwave and electric oven recorded the highest percentage of 87.57 and 87.33%, respectively.