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Abstract
Lemongrass is an aromatic crop widely utilized in aroma and pharmaceutical industries because of its pharmacologic and clinical properties. The worldwide demand for natural products has also increased and made the products’ quality, efficacy, and safety a major concern. Appropriate post-harvest management and processing techniques can maintain the quality of the produce because improper handling significantly deteriorates the quality and contribute to economic losses. Thus, a study was conducted to analyze essential oil content and chemical constitution of lemongrass with two experiments: (1) post-harvest drying storage (0, 12, 24, 36, and 48 h) and (2) distillation time (DT: 30, 60, 120, 180, and 240 minutes), conducted during 2017-18. In the post-harvest drying storage experiment, an increase in drying resulted in gradual moisture content reduction with the lowest at 48 h. The highest essential oil content was achieved at 48 h post-harvest storage and 240 min (minutes) DT. The major constituent, i.e. citral (neral and geranial) attained the highest percentage (81.2 %) at the longer storage hours (36 h) and at 60 min DT. The degradation, rearrangement, and disappearance of constituents resulted in essential oil composition variation; post-harvest drying storage and DT can acquire essential oil with disparity and specific chemical profile.