1. KAUTIR (Kerala Agricultural University Theses Information and Retrieval)
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Item Standardisation of dehydration, storage and packaging of drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) leaves(Department of Postharvest Management, College of Agriculture,Vellanikkara, 2025) Fathima Ismath.; Anupama, T VLeafy vegetables are an essential part of a healthy diet, providing an affordable source of vital vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Among them, Moringa oleifera Lam., often called the "miracle tree," stands out for its exceptional nutritional and medicinal properties. Its leaves are rich in bioactive compounds with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial benefits, contributing to improved nutrition and addressing malnutrition, especially in rural households. However, the high moisture content of fresh Moringa leaves makes them highly perishable, necessitating effective post-harvest management to extend their shelf life. Proper dehydration techniques not only reduce spoilage but also help retain their nutritional value, ensuring year-round availability. Converting Moringa leaves into powder enhances their stability and facilitates their incorporation into value-added products. Additionally, suitable packaging and storage conditions play a crucial role in preserving quality and minimizing post-harvest losses. Despite its significance, research on optimizing postharvest handling of Moringa leaves remains limited in Kerala. Hence with this background the present study entitled “Standardisation of dehydration, storage and packaging of drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) leaves” was undertaken to standardize pretreatment methods, dehydration techniques, and suitable packaging materials and storage conditions to enhance the shelf life and preserve the nutritional integrity of Moringa oleifera Lam. leaves. The study was structured into three experiments. The first experiment was to standardise the pretreatments of Moringa leaves. Fresh Moringa leaves were collected, destalked, washed, and subjected to four treatments: control (no blanching), hot water blanching (80°C for 1 min), steam blanching (1 min in a steam cooker), and microwave blanching (800 W for 30 s). Blanched leaves were rapidly cooled, shadedried, powdered, and analysed for physical and biochemical properties including recovery percentage, moisture content, crude fibre, crude fat, total protein, total ash, total carbohydrate, ascorbic acid, total chlorophyll content, total carotenoids and total phenols. The results revealed that blanching treatments significantly influenced the physical and biochemical parameters of Moringa leaves. Microwave blanching (T4) emerged as the most effective pre-treatment, yielding the highest recovery percentage (22.81%), lowest moisture content (8.48%), and maximum retention of crude fibre (13.50%), total carbohydrates (42.00%) and carotenoids (114.48 mg/100g). Steam blanching (T3) and hot water blanching (T2) also showed significant improvements in nutrient retention compared to the control (T1). The control treatment exhibited the lowest recovery (17.94%) and highest moisture content (11.64%), highlighting the importance of blanching in reducing moisture and enhancing nutrient concentration. Microwave blanching also retained higher levels of total ash (12.38%), total protein (24.23%), ascorbic acid (115.61mg/100g), and total chlorophyll (299.80%) and crude fat (7.53%), making it the best pre-treatment method. Moringa leaves blanched by microwave blanching were subjected to different dehydration methods, including shade drying (23–31°C), cabinet drying (50±5°C), microwave oven drying (60°C), and vacuum drying (35±5°C). After drying, the leaves were powdered and analysed for physical (recovery percentage), biochemical (moisture content, crude fibre, crude fat, total protein, total ash, total carbohydrate, ascorbic acid, total chlorophyll content, total carotenoids and total phenols.), mineral (Fe, Ca and K), and antioxidant properties. The results demonstrated that dehydration methods significantly influenced the physical, biochemical, mineral, and antioxidant properties of Moringa oleifera leaves. Vacuum drying (T4) resulted in the highest recovery percentage (28.23%), total carbohydrate (48.00%), total protein (26.28%), total ash (22.42%), ascorbic acid (139.02 mg/100 g), and total phenols (160.91 mg GAE/100 g), while also exhibiting the highest antioxidant activity (IC₅₀: 3.82 mg/ml). Microwave drying (T3) recorded the highest total carotenoid content (119.43 mg/100 g) and retained notable amounts of crude fat (7.42%) and iron (13.34 mg/100 g). Cabinet drying (T2) yielded the highest crude fibre (9.70%) but the lowest crude fat (5.77%) and protein content (23.33%). Shade drying (T1) retained the highest total chlorophyll (324.41 mg/100 g) and crude fat (8.69%) but had the lowest recovery (24.28%) and total carbohydrate content (42.33%). Vacuum drying emerged as the most effective dehydration method, followed by microwave drying, due to their superior retention of key nutrients and antioxidant properties. The vacuum-dried whole leaf and leaf powder of Moringa were packaged using HDPE (200 gauge), LDPE (200 gauge), and polyethylene-laminated aluminium pouches and stored under ambient and refrigerated (4–6°C) conditions for three months. Biochemical, mineral, microbial, sensory, and antioxidant analyses were conducted at monthly intervals to evaluate storage effects. The results of the third experiment revealed that packaging materials and storage conditions significantly influenced the biochemical, mineral, antioxidant, microbial, and sensory properties of dried Moringa oleifera leaves over a three-month storage period. Leaf powder stored in polythene-laminated aluminium pouches under refrigerated conditions (T12) emerged as the most effective method, maintaining the lowest moisture content (5.95–6.02%), highest retention of total phenols (158.21– 159.63 mg GAE/100g), ascorbic acid (133.28–133.32 mg/100g), and total chlorophyll (357.66–390.53 mg/100g). In contrast, whole leaves stored in LDPE pouches under ambient conditions (T2) resulted in the highest moisture content (7.97–10.21%), significant nutrient degradation, and the lowest overall acceptability (5.72–6.57). Refrigerated storage also minimized microbial load, with T12 recording the lowest microbial count ( aerobic plate count - 0.40–2.00 × 10⁴ cfu/g), while ambient-stored samples (T2) exhibited the highest microbial growth (1.50–10.30 × 10⁴ cfu/g). Sensory evaluation confirmed that leaf powder stored in polythene laminated aluminium pouch under refrigeration (T12) retained superior sensory attributes, achieving the highest overall acceptability score (8.71) by the end of the storage period. Mineral content, including iron, calcium, and potassium, showed a gradual decline over time, with refrigerated storage (T7, T8, T9, T10, T11, T12) preserving higher levels compared to ambient storage. For instance, T7 (whole leaves stored in HDPE under refrigerated conditions) and T10 (leaf powder stored in HDPE under refrigerated conditions) retained the highest iron content (15.26–15.29 mg/100g), while T12 maintained the highest potassium content (0.86–0.92%). Antioxidant activity, measured by IC₅₀ values, also declined over time, with refrigerated samples (T12) exhibiting the lowest IC₅₀ values (4.59–6.03 mg/ml), indicating better retention of antioxidant potential compared to ambient-stored samples (T2) with IC50 value of 7.87–14.88 mg/ml. Overall, refrigerated storage in polythene-laminated aluminium pouches (T12) proved to be the most effective method for preserving the nutritional, sensory, and microbial quality of Moringa leaves, making it the preferred choice for long-term storage. The findings of the study revealed that Moringa leaves can be effectively preserved using microwave blanching, vacuum drying, and refrigerated storage in polythene-laminated aluminium pouches, maintaining their nutritional, sensory, and microbial quality for up to three months. The findings highlight the importance of advanced preservation and packaging techniques in retaining nutrient content and quality. Future research should focus on advanced preservation techniques, ecofriendly packaging, and scaling up production for commercial use. Additionally, exploring value-added products, nutrient bioavailability, and smart packaging technologies can enhance the sustainable utilization of Moringa leaves for global nutrition and food security.Item Arthropod diversity in drumstick Moringa oleifera Lam.(Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, 2023-04-12) Niveditha K P; Anitha, NItem Characterization and evaluation of drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) accessions for yield and quality(Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture,Vellanikkara, 2019) Anitta Judy Kurian; Anitha, PDrumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.), belonging to the family Moringaceae is one of the most useful tree with a variety of potential uses. Large variability exists in drumstick since the crop is cross pollinated and naturalized in many areas. The study entitled “Characterization and evaluation of drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) accessions for yield and quality’’ was conducted during January to December 2018. Twenty five accessions were catalogued based on IPGRI minimal descriptors (2013). Data on morphological, quantitative and biochemical characters were recorded for one calendar year (2018) for further analysis. Tree shape varied from upright to spreading. Grey coloured barks were recorded in majority of accessions except in VKMo 3, VKMo 4 and VKMo 8 which had white bark colour. All accessions produced pale green coloured young shoots with purple tinge. Foliage density at flowering period varied from sparse, medium to dense. Leaflet shape varied from ovate, oblong to elliptical and leaf apex from obtuse to acute. Both secondary and tertiary flowering branchlets were observed. Flowers produced in all the accessions had triangular shaped, polysepalous nature, pale green coloured calyx; corolla having triangular shape, polypetalous nature and cream colour. Fresh fruit pulp colour was white in all accessions. Taste of fresh fruit pulp was palatable in all flowering types except VKMo 3, VKMo 6, VKMo 11, VKMo 13 and VKMo 29, which were bitter in taste. Out of twenty five accessions, three were leafy types viz. VKMo 32, VKMo 35 and VKMo 38. Two peaks of flowering viz. January- April and September- November were observed in VKMo 2, VKMo 7, VKMo 12, VKMo 15, VKMo 16 and VKMo 17. Accession VKMo 3 recorded highest tree height (7.68 m) and trunk girth (65.8 cm). Accession VKMo 10 recorded highest fruit length (89.50 cm), fruit girth (6.72 cm) and number of ridges/fruit (10.50). Highest fruit weight was recorded in VKMo 9 (160.00 g). Accession VKMo 6 recorded highest number of seeds per fruit (21.20). Highest number of fruits/tree was recorded in VKMo 2 (22.21) and total fruit yield/tree in VKMo 3 (1775.54 g/tree). Estimation of biochemical characters in leaves, flowers and fruits revealed that leaves are rich sources of these biochemical characters followed by flowers and fruits, except for iron. Highest iron content was recorded in flowers, followed by leaves and fruits. Significant, positive correlation was observed between fruit yield per tree and fruit weight (0.613); fruit yield per tree and number of fruits per tree (0.896). Significant positive correlation was recorded between protein and beta-carotene (0.424); beta-carotene and phenol (0.462); protein and phenol (0.466). Significant, positive correlation was observed for beta-carotene content with rainfall (0.640) and number of rainy days (0.603). Calcium content showed a significant, positive correlation with mean temperature (0.585). Trunk girth (0.0266), fruit length (0.029), tree height (0.074), number of seeds per fruit (0.195), fruit weight (0.639) and number of fruits per tree (0.977) exhibited direct positive effect on yield. Principal component analysis for the quantitative characters revealed that, first three principal components accounted for 88.1 per cent of the total variation and was contributed by number of seeds per fruit, fruit girth, trunk girth and tree height. Clustering of the accessions resulted in formation of five clusters. Principal component analysis on biochemical characters revealed that, first two principal components accounted for 64 per cent variance and was contributed by iron, calcium, protein and vitamin C. Clustering of the accessions resulted in formation of six clusters. Overall ranking of drumstick accessions for important quantitative and biochemical characters revealed that the performance of accession VKMo 7 (87) was superior followed by accession VKMo 9 (91). Organoleptic evaluation revealed that accession VKMo 29 ranked superior for overall acceptability. Incidence of leaf eating caterpillar (Noorda blitealis) on drumstick accessions showed that seven accessions viz. VKMo 5, VKMo 11, VKMo 17, VKMo 30, VKMo 35, VKMo 36 and VKMo 38 possess tolerance to leaf eating caterpillar.