Development of Wheat Grass Powder Prepared by Different Drying Processes.

Background: The mature sprouts of Wheat seeds (Triticum aestivum) known as Wheat Grass and it is one grass that has been demonstrated to be of particular use to humans as a good nutritional source. Wheatgrass is a good source of calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, and magnesium, as well as trace minerals, all B vitamins, pro-vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin K. In addition, wheatgrass has seventeen amino acids, eight live enzymes, and chlorophyll. Objective: This study was carried out with the objective i.e. to prepare wheat grass powder by using different drying methods. Materials and Methods: 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]. Moisture content of different samples of wheat grass powder was analyzed to evaluate the best drying method for preparation of wheat grass powder. Results: In moisture analysis microwave dried wheat grass powder [800W, 10 min] gave the lowest mean value of moisture (7.4) followed by microwave drying [600W, 15 min] (7.6), vacuum oven drying [50˚C, 15lb, 6 hr] (7.83), hot air oven drying [60˚C,5 hr.] (8.0) and hot air oven drying [50˚C, 6 hr] (8.50). Thus, it was observed that microwave drying method was the best in comparison to other methods to prepare the wheat grass powder.