The Effect of Drying Methods on Chemical Profiling of Zingiberaceae Herbs Production

Background: Drying method is one of the important steps in post-harvesting in herbal production in order to prolong the shelf-life of herbal medicine and to ensure the good quality. Objective: This research aimed to profile and quantify the metabolites changing using metabolomic based on ¹H-NMR Spectroscopy on Curcuma and Zingiber genus due to the drying process. Material and Methods: Five species of the Curcuma and Zingiber genus were Curcuma longa L., Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb., Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb., Zingiber officinale Roscoe. and Zingiber amaricans BI. The drying method applied were freeze drying and oven drying method at -1080C and 500C, respectively. Samples were extracted using buffer phosphate and deuterated methanol (3:7). The analysis was performed using ¹H-NMR spectroscopy 400 MHz with TSP as an internal standard. The ¹H-NMR spectra were analysed with multivariate (Principal Component Analysis). Results: The relative concentrations of sucrose and fructose at 5 samples in freeze drying method showed significant higher content than those in oven drying. On the other hands, glucose was mostly significant higher concentration in oven drying at 5 samples. Fructose and sucrose were significantly higher in freeze drying method than those in oven drying in Curcuma and Zingiber genera. Relative glucose content was higher in oven drying at Curcuma genus Conclusion: Therefore, oven drying method which applied heating at 500C is an appropriate method for herbal medicine production, especially in Curcuma and Zingiber genus, for maintaining the major secondary metabolites.