Effect of Natural Drying Methods on Flavour Profile of Camphor Rich Ocimum americanum L. from North India

In the present study, fresh aerial parts of Ocimum americanum L. were collected from Ramnagar, India and sun and shade drying was applied until constant weights. The fresh and dried plant materials were hydrodistilled by Clevenger apparatus and the extracted oils were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. One-way ANOVA and correlation were performed to evaluate the difference and correlation between drying treatments using SPSS 16.0. The major compounds of the fresh oil were camphor (33.41 %), maillol (11.96 %), β-selinene (8.34 %), α-selinene (6.92 %), β-gurjunene (5.43 %) and (E)-caryophyllene (5.07 %). In the dried samples, significant increase (p < 0.05) in the percentage of camphor and maillol was observed while the percentage of (E)-cayophyllene, β-gurjunene, β-selinene and α-selinene significantly (p < 0.05) decreased during drying process. Drying caused loss of fourteen constituents with appearance of four compounds. The oil yield was the highest under sun drying condition.