International Journal of Agriculture, Environment & Biotechnology

Citation: IJAEB: 7(4): 903-909 December 2014

DOI Number: 10.5958/2230-732X.2014.01403.X

©2014 New Delhi Publishers. All rights reserved

AGRICULTURE CHEMICALS]

Qualities of lemongrass ( Cymbopogan citratus ) essential oil

at different drying conditions

Debashis Dutta, Pawan Kumar, A. Nath * , N. Verma, and B. Gangwar

Project Directorate for Farming Systems Research, Modipuram, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

*Corresponding author: amitnath2005@gmail.com

Paper No. 284

Received: 15 August, 2014

Accepted: 17 November, 2014

Published: 20 December, 2014

Abstract

Cymbopogon citratus is widely used in nutraceutical industries due to its strong lemony odor for its high

content of the aldehyde citral and small quantities of geraniol, geranyl acetate and monoterpene olefins.

Present studies were conducted to estimate the essential oil at different drying condition viz., sun-drying,

shade-drying and oven-drying and analyzed for physicochemical properties (acid value, saponification

value and iodine value). The maximum essential oil (3.05%) recovered in oven drying method while,

the minimum saponification value (142.59 mgKOH/g) was recorded in sun drying method, however,

the minimum acid value (4.14 mgKOH/g) and iodine value (114.31gI ₂ /100g) were recorded in shade

drying method. The essential oils were analyzed by GC/MS instruments and identified eleven different

components. Among the components identified, geranial (citral-a), neral (citral-b), caryophellene and

limonene were found major components in the lemongrass essential oils.

Highlights

High amount of nutraceutical, neral and geranial were recovered by shade drying method. The drying

methods do not have any effect on time of oil recovery.

Keywords: Lemongrass, drying, saponification value, iodine value, acid value

Cymbopogon (family Poaceae) is an important

because it contains high amount of two geometric

grass having about 120 species which grows in

isomer of citral aldehyde, viz., geranial and neral,

tropical and subtropical regions all over the world.

as reported by Shahi et al., (2005). Weiss (1997) also

It is highly valued due to their essential oil which

reported that the essential oil of Cumbopogon spp.

is of high commercial value. It is recorded that this

has small quantities of geraniol, geranyl acetate

genus has about140 species out of which about 45

and monoterpene olefins, such as limonene and

have been reported from India (Jagadish, 1975). The

myrecene. In another experiment, the oil of C.

Cymbopogon species produce essential oils rich in

citratus was extracted by hydro-distillation and

monoterpenes such as citral, citronellal, citronellol,

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry analysis

linalool, elemol, 1,8-cineole, limonene, geraniol,

was carried out by Matasyoh et al., (2011). They

β-carophyllene, methyl heptenone, geranyl acetate

reported that the oil was dominated by monoterpene

and geranyl formate (Ganjewala et al., 2008). On

hydrocarbons which accounted for 94.25% of the

account of their diverse uses in pharmaceutical,

total oil and characterised by a high percentage of

cosmetics,foodandflavor,andagricultureindustries,

geranial (39.53%), neral (33.31%), and myrecene

Cymbopogon citratus possesses strong lemony odor

(11.41%). In general, C. citratus is used frequently