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Effect of different drying treatments on concentration of curcumin in raw Curcuma longa L.

November 2018
Food Research 2(6):500-504

DOI:10.26656/fr.2017.2(6).109

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CC BY

Authors:

Azhar Ali

University of Agriculture Faisalabad

Yus Aniza Yusof

Universiti Putra Malaysia

Abdul Nasir Awan

University of Agriculture Faisalabad

Show all 5 authorsHide

Curcuma longa L., commonly known as turmeric, is a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), native to Southwest India. Curcumin is the active ingredient of the turmeric. In traditional Indian medicine, turmeric has been used to treat stomach and liver ailments, as well as topically to heal sores, for its supposed antimicrobial property. The curcumin is believed to have a wide range of biological effects including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, antibacterial, and antiviral activities, which indicate potential in clinical medicine. In conventional processing of turmeric, raw turmeric rhizomes boiled and dried under direct sunlight for 1-4 hrs and 25-30 days, respectively although which is highly sensitive to the heat and sunlight. This work described the effect of different drying treatments including shade, direct sunlight, solar dryer, convection oven and hot-air drying on the concentration of curcumin. The Reflux method was used to analyse the concentration of curcumin in turmeric powder prepared under different drying treatments. The results had shown that without boiling turmeric rhizomes took too much time to reach the final moisture contents below 10% in all drying treatments which was not feasible economical and hygienically. The optimum conditions for drying of turmeric rhizomes were 1 hr boiling and drying at 70 o C in hot-air dryer.

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*Corresponding author.

Email: yus.aniza@upm.edu.my

Food Research 2 (6) : 500 - 504 (December 2018)

Journal homepage: http://www.myfoodresearch.com

FULL PAPER

Effect of different drying treatments on concentration of curcumin in raw

Curcuma longa L.

1 Raza, A.,2Ali, M. A.,1,3* Yusof, Y. A., 2Nasir, A. and 4Muneer, S.

1Department of Process and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

2Department of Structures and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and

Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Punjab, Pakistan.

3Laboratory of Halal Services, Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia,

43400 Selangor, Malaysia.

4Government College University Faisalabad, 38000, Punjab, Pakistan.

Article history:

Received: 21 May 2018

Received in revised form: 3

July 2018

Accepted: 13 July 2018

Available Online: 6

November 2018

Keywords:

Curcumin,

Sun drying,

Shade drying,

Convection oven drying,

Hot-air drying,

Solar tunnel drying

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26656/fr.2017.2(6).109

Abstract

Curcuma longa L., commonly known as turmeric, is a member of the ginger family

(Zingiberaceae), native to Southwest India. Curcumin is the active ingredient of the

turmeric. In traditional Indian medicine, turmeric has been used to treat stomach and liver

ailments, as well as topically to heal sores, for its supposed antimicrobial property. The

curcumin is believed to have a wide range of biological effects including anti-

inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, antibacterial, and antiviral activities, which indicate

potential in clinical medicine. In conventional processing of turmeric, raw turmeric

rhizomes boiled and dried under direct sunlight for 1-4 hrs and 25-30 days, respectively

although which is highly sensitive to the heat and sunlight. This work described the effect

of different drying treatments including shade, direct sunlight, solar dryer, convection

oven and hot-air drying on the concentration of curcumin. The Reflux method was used to

analyse the concentration of curcumin in turmeric powder prepared under different drying

treatments. The results had shown that without boiling turmeric rhizomes took too much

time to reach the final moisture contents below 10% in all drying treatments which was

not feasible economical and hygienically. The optimum conditions for drying of turmeric

rhizomes were 1 hr boiling and drying at 70oC in hot-air dryer.

1. Introduction

A prestigiously beneficial food commodity by the

nature that exhibits remarkable medicinal properties is

Curcuma longa, Linn, which is commonly known as

turmeric and belongs to ginger family (Zingiberaceae). It

is perennially cultivated in red soils to clay loam, sandy

loam and light black soils with favourable weather

condition of tropical and sub-tropical regions of

Southeast Asia. It requires a thriving temperature of 20-

30oC with considerable amount of irrigation water

(Yadav and Tarun, 2017). The global production of

turmeric ranged about 1.1-1.15 million tons/year

(Kanungo, 2016) in which India was leading contributor

with 82% productivity share followed by China (8%),

Myanmar (4%), Bangladesh (3%), Nigeria (3%) and 2%

by rest of others (Moghe et al., 2012). Turmeric is

commonly used as a food additive, colouring agent,

cosmetic ingredient and especially in sub-continent

region, it is also used in religious ceremonies especially

among Hindu community of India. Most importantly,

turmeric has a vast 5000 years of medicinal history to be

prescribed abundantly as a medicinal herb for various

human ailments that are now being validated by modern

science (Prashanti, 2010).

Curcuminoids or commonly termed as curcumin are

the main phytoconstituents found approximately 1-6%

by dry weight in the form of diarylheptanoids (Niranjan

et al., 2013) and responsible for the light-yellow colour

of turmeric. It was first isolated in 1815 and chemically

analysed by Roughley and Whiting in 1973. Curcumin

was melted at 176-177°C, produced a reddish-brown salt

with alkali and soluble in ketone, ethanol, acetic acid,

alkali and chloroform (Chattopadhyay et al., 2004). The

booming nutraceutical applications of curcumin and

advents in in-vitro testing led to flourishing publication

of manuscripts on its biological activities as anti-

inflammatory, antifungal, antibacterial, anti-HIV,

antidiabetic, nematocidal, antimutagenic,

501 Raza et al. / Food Research 2 (6) (2018) 500 - 504

antifibrinogenic, antiparasitic, radioprotective, wound

healing, antispasmodic, lipid-lowering (Niranjan et al.,

2008), antioxidant (Panahi et al.,

2015), anticarcinogenic, immunomodulating (Yue et al.,

2010) and Alzheimer’s disease (Hu et al., 2015). The

effective but non-selective therapeutic perspective had

made curcumin a potential source of future breakthrough

in the treatment of complex diseases. One can envisage

the significantly increasing role of curcumin in human

ailments by the sale of its supplements as food additives,

valuing more than $20 million in 2014, in the United

States (Majeed, 2015).

Turmeric, before entering the market as a stable

commodity, undergoes a number of post-harvest

processing operations viz. curing, drying, polishing,

colouring and milling of rhizomes. Conventionally,

mother and finger rhizomes are separated and cooked (45

-60 mins) in boiling water (±100oC), sometimes with the

mixing of alkaline solution. Open sun drying is applied

on cured rhizomes for 12–15 days and then dried

rhizomes are polished to remove dull and rough outer

surface. Polished rhizomes are then coloured to enhance

the appearance and finally, ground to produce uniform

powder product (Shinde et al., 2011; Gitanjali et at.,

2014; Pethkar et al., 2017). Medicinally, curcumin is the

most important constituent of turmeric, but it is lost

about 27-53% (Suresh et al., 2017) due to heat

processing. Due to high light sensitivity (Geethanjali et

al., 2016), it is further lost in commonly practiced open

sun drying method. Surprisingly, curcumin contents in

various commercial turmeric powders from all over the

world range from 0.58 to 1.2% on an average and in

curry powders, it is less than 1% (Reema et al., 2016).

Turmeric contains moisture (70-80%) at the time of

harvest which should be reduced to a safe limit for

milling (10%) and storage (6%) (Singh et al., 2010).

Several gadgets were developed for the processing of

turmeric, but all were heat treatment based and resulted,

no doubt in reduced curing and drying time but no

weighty curcumin preservation was achieved. To date,

there is no scientific research is reported in Pakistan on

curcumin recovery during the post-harvest processing of

turmeric. Therefore, this study was taken up to compare

and analyze the effect of different drying techniques on

the concentration of curcumin in Curcuma longa, L.

2. Materials and methods

2.1 Raw materials

Freshly harvested turmeric rhizomes (Kesari variety)

of were procured from turmeric market of District Kasur,

Punjab, Pakistan which was capable to contribute 80% of

total turmeric produce in Pakistan with 30569 tons/year

(Anwar et al., 2012). The experimental procedures and

analysis were done at Faculty of Agricultural

Engineering and Technology, University of Agriculture

Faisalabad, Pakistan.

2.2 Sun and shade dry

Turmeric rhizomes were spread evenly on a clean

sheet and subjected under open sun drying and shade

drying conditions. Rhizomes were turned over after

regular intervals to for constant drying rate (Ali et al.,

2017). Samples were heaped during night time in case of

open sun drying to avoid moisture fall in the night.

Moisture loss at 6-hr intervals for both drying treatments

were examined until a constant value obtained. Drying

times (days) for both approaches were also noted.

2.3 Convection oven drying

A lab-scale convection oven was used to reduce the

moisture contents of rhizomes at 60oC, 70oC, 80oC and

90oC oven temperatures. One kilogram of rhizomes was

uniformly spread over the oven tray and moisture loss

was observed at 1-hr interval until optimum moisture

contents were achieved. All experiments were done in

triplicates.

2.4 Hot air drying

Turmeric rhizomes were dried in a six-tray lab scale

hot air dryer. Rhizomes were spread equally on each tray

and hot air dryer was operated at 60oC, 70oC, 80oC and

90oC temperatures with a constant air flow rate of 5 m/s.

Moisture contents were noted after every 1 hr until a

constant mass of rhizomes was obtained.

2.5 Solar tunnel drying

A solar tunnel dryer placed at Solar Energy Park,

Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology,

University of Agriculture Faisalabad was used to

determine the effect for desired treatment. Samples were

placed in single layer evenly on the trays of solar tunnel

dryer. Moisture content (%), air flow velocity (m/s) and

temperature of dryer (oC) were recorded constantly at 1-

hr interval until the final moisture contents were

obtained.

2.6 Curcumin determination

Reflux method, described by Geethanjali et al.

(2016), was used to determine the curcumin

concentration of the turmeric samples. About 75 mL

acetone was taken in round flask of 250 mL and 1 g of

turmeric powder sample of each treatment was refluxed

for 1 hr. It was filtered and diluted with distilled water to

make 200 mL solution from which further 1 mL was

taken and diluted to made 100 mL in a standard flask.

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Raza et al. / Food Research 2 (6) (2018) 500 - 504 502

The flasks were wrapped with dark coloured tape and

dark conditions maintained since curcumin is light

sensitive. The UV spectrometer (JENWAY 6305 UV/

Vis.) was used to measure the wavelength of the solution

under 420 nm. The measured absorptions of turmeric

samples were compared with the standard value and

curcumin concentrations were determined using the

formula:

Where Ds, As, Ws and 1650 is the dilution volume of the

sample (i.e. 200*100 = 20000 mL), absorbance of the

sample, weight of the sample (g), and standard value

calculated by experts respectively.

3. Results and discussion

Table 1 shows the effect of different drying

conditions on drying time to reach moisture content less

than 10% (wet basis) and concentration of curcumin in

turmeric samples without boiling. As shown in Table 1,

shade drying took a maximum time of 76 days to reach

moisture content below 10% followed by sun drying.

This long drying duration had a negative impact on

curcumin concentration. As the drying duration

increases, the curcumin concentration decreases. In the

case of convection oven and hot-air drying, the drying

trend is not same as shade and sun drying. Drying time

and curcumin concentration decrease as temperature

increases which clearly indicates that temperature has

direct effect on curcumin concentration in turmeric either

in convection oven or hot-air drying.

Figure 1 shows the combined effect of boiling for 1

to 3 hrs and different drying treatments on turmeric

samples. It is clearly indicated that the drying time

reduces almost 4 to 5 times when turmeric rhizomes

were dried for 1 to 3 hrs. The curcumin concentration

was increased from 1.40±013 to 1.61±0.17, 1.45±0.13

and 1.01±0.18 during first, second and third hrs of

boiling in case of sun drying treatment (Figure 1). The

above-mentioned trend was the same for all other drying

treatments including sun, convection oven, and hot-air

drying. These results showed that boiling has also a

significant effect on curcumin concentration followed by

drying temperature. Suresh et al. (2017) also reported

that curcumin may damage due to boiling while

Geethanjali et al. (2016) concluded that curcumin is

highly light-sensitive nutrient of turmeric.

Figure 2 shows the effect of drying temperature on

drying time and curcumin concentration. The bars clearly

indicated that drying time reduced linearly with respect

to increase in temperature. While curcumin

concentration also decreased with an increase in drying

temperature. In case of boiling time, the curcumin

concentration increased at 1 hr boiling but curcumin

concentration decreased when drying time increased for

2-3 hrs.

As the boiling time increased the drying time

decreased but curcumin concentration decreased as the

boiling time increased. The highest concentration of

curcumin was found during hot-air drying at 70oC

temperature and 1 hr boiling which means hot-air at

70oC temperature are the optimum drying conditions for

turmeric rhizomes (Figure 3). Direct and indirect

sunlight has highest effect on curcumin concentration as

shown from results the sun drying and solar tunnel

FULL PAPER

Drying treatment Time Curcumin (%)

Sun drying without boiling 43 days 1.40±013

Shade drying without boiling 76 days 2.16±0.11

Convection oven

drying

at 60oC 45 hrs 2.93±0.14

at 70oC 27 hrs 2.15±0.11

at 80oC 18 hrs 2.06±0.16

at 90oC 06 hrs 1.73±0.12

Hot air drying

at 60oC 41 hrs 2.85±0.11

at 70oC 21 hrs 2.97±0.19

at 80oC 11 hrs 1.92±0.13

at 90oC 04 hrs 1.84±0.15

Solar tunnel drying 37 days 1.68±0.08

Table 1. Effect of different drying treatments on the

concentration of curcumin in turmeric without boiling.

Figure 1. Effect of conventional drying treatments and boiling time on drying period and curcumin concentration in raw turmeric

rhizomes.

503 Raza et al. / Food Research 2 (6) (2018) 500 - 504

drying had a minimum concentration of curcumin both

whether boiling or without boiling turmeric rhizomes.

4. Conclusion

Curcumin is medicinally most important constituent

of turmeric but it is heat and light sensitive. Direct

sunlight affects the curcumin concentration significantly

followed by drying temperature then drying duration.

Boiling of turmeric rhizomes is before drying can reduce

drying period up to 4 times but also reduces the

curcumin concentration. Hot air drying treatment at 70oC

and 1 hr boiling time are the optimum drying conditions

for turmeric rhizomes in terms of minimum drying time

and maximum curcumin concentration.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial

support provided by Endowment Funds Secretariat

(U.S.A.) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for

academic coordination.

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Desa Kesamben Wetan merupakan salah satu desa di Kecamatan Driyorejo, Kabupaten Gresik yang mempunyai produk unggulan berupa kunyit. Kelompok Tani (Mitra 2) terdiri dari 26 petani, menjual kunyit hasil panen tersebut ke UKM (Mitra 1). Mitra 1 menjual kunyit dalam bentuk kunyit basah dan kunyit olahan kering. Permasalahan pada olahan kunyit kering yang dijual tidak melalui proses pencucian sehingga banyak pasir yang menempel dan kunyit sebelum dikeringkan tidak melalui proses blanching sehingga banyak mengandung mikroorganisme dan kadar air yang tinggi. Untuk mengatasi permasalahan tersebut, tim pengabdian memberikan penerapan IPTEKS pada Mitra 2 berupa mesin pencuci kunyit agar kunyit yang dijual ke mitra 1 sudah dalam keadaan bersih, higienis dan pada Mitra 1 berupa mesin pengukus kunyit untuk proses blanching agar kunyit sebelum dikeringkan terbebas dari mikroorganisme, mempercepat proses pengeringan dan memiliki kwalitas baik. Metode yang digunakan yaitu persiapan, pemberian TTG mesin pencuci, pengukus, pelatihan penggunaan dan maintenance mesin, pendampingan sampai diperoleh hasil yang diinginkan. Mesin tersebut sudah melalui proses rancang bangun dengan menyesuaikan kebutuhan Mitra. Mesin pencuci kunyit berkapasitas 50-80 kg/jam menghasilkan kunyit yang bersih dan higienis, demikian juga untuk mesin pengukus kunyit berkapasitas 30 kg/10 menit menghasilkan kunyit dengan curcumin yang merata diseluruh permukaan kunyit.

Thin‐layer mathematical modeling for drying of turmeric slices in infrared dryer

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2024
J FOOD PROCESS ENG

Drying is an important unit operation in the turmeric processing chain. This research investigates the kinetics of drying turmeric slices using infrared dryer. The drying was performed at temperatures of 50, 60, and 70°C for slice thickness of 2, 4, and 6 mm. The drying temperature 70°C and slice thickness of 2 mm showed the highest drying rate. The highest curcumin and oleoresin yield with color retention was observed at the drying temperature of 60°C at 2‐mm slice thickness. Thirteen thin‐layer drying models were employed to evaluate the experimental drying kinetics of turmeric slices. The model Verma et al. showed the best fit with an R² value of 0.99 with the least RMSE and chi‐squared values as 0.0193 and 3.73E−04, respectively. The activation energy for the turmeric slices of thickness 2, 4, and 6 mm ranged between 37.31 and 52.95, 48.78 and 57.51, and 46.79 and 57.37 kJ/mol for 50, 60, and 70°C, respectively. Practical applications This research offers significant potential for improving the efficiency and quality of turmeric drying in industrial settings. The infrared drying enables accelerated drying of turmeric. The optimized infrared drying conditions (60°C and 2‐mm slice thickness) can significantly reduce drying time compared to conventional methods. This translates to increased throughput and minimized postharvest losses, especially in large‐scale turmeric processing facilities. The preservation of curcumin, oleoresin, and color at the optimized conditions ensures the production of high‐value turmeric products with superior nutritional and sensory attributes. This can lead to increased consumer appeal, brand differentiation, and potentially higher market prices for turmeric‐based foods, supplements, and nutraceuticals. The infrared drying technology can be prescribed to the industries over the existing industrial drying techniques. The cost‐effectiveness of the method, coupled with its potential for quality improvements and reduced drying time, makes it a viable option for turmeric processors seeking to enhance their operations.

Techno-economic Efficacy of Refractance Window Dried Curcuma Longa

Chapter

Apr 2023

In this article, the drying characteristics of slice and paste Curcuma longa has been addressed using three alternate drying methods namely refractance window drying (RWD), oven drying and tray drying. A comparative assessment of the alternate drying was targeted in terms of efficacy associated to desired characteristics such as moisture content, antioxidant activity, curcumin content, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content. Among all cases, slice samples obtained from the RWD at 60 °C process have been analyzed to possess optimal combinations of all evaluated parameters along with reduction in drying time. Finally, a comparative conceptual economic assessment of laboratory scale RWD, tray and oven drying processes has also been targeted in the article. Primarily, the efficacy of RWD has been characterized due to its process simplicity and reduction in drying time to achieve similar nutritional characteristics as those achieved using tray and oven drying processes.KeywordsRefractance window dryingTurmericSlicePaste

Versatility of turmeric: A review the golden spice of life

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2017

Turmeric, botanically known as Curcuma longa, Linn, grows in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. The turmeric possesses high nutritional value. Extensive research within the last half a century has proven that most of these activities, associated with turmeric are due to curcumin. The medicinal properties of Turmeric include anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-coagulant, anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, anti-ulcer, wound healing and anti-fertility activities. It is effectively used in diabetes, various malignant disease, Alzheimer's disease and other chronic disease. The present paper reviews the Introduction,

Processing of Moringa leaves as natural source of nutrients by optimization of drying and grinding mechanism: ALI et al.

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2017
J FOOD PROCESS ENG

In this study, Moringa leaves were processed in two steps (1) drying and (2) grinding. In the first step, leaves were dried with different drying treatments including conventional, laboratory and advanced methods to optimize drying conditions in terms of maximum nutrients preservation and color quality. During the second step, leaves were ground with three different grinding mills including hammer, dry, and cutter mills to study the effect of grinding mechanism in combination with particles size and moisture content on the flowability of the powder. The flowability was measured using conventional and advanced methods including Carr Index and Cohesion Index. Oven drying at 50 °C was found to be the optimum conditions in terms of maximum nutrients and color preservation of Moringa leaves. The grinding mechanism having a substantial impact on the flowability of the powder produced in different types of mills. The effect of moisture content and particle size on Moringa leaves powder was also investigated and found that moisture content directly affects the flowability of Moringa leaves powder followed by particles size and shape. We have also noted powder sample prepared by the impact mechanism (hammer mill) with particle size 50 µm and moisture content 5% having appreciable flowability as compared to the samples processed by cutting (dry mill) and shattering (cutter mill) mechanisms. This study conveys an ultimate understanding regarding processing (drying and grinding) of Moringa leaves powder. Practical Applications Dried Moringa is restricted to use as dietary purposes because of its unpleasant taste, which becomes further bitter after drying procedure. Therefore, powder of Moringa leaves can be processed into different forms such as tablet, capsules and cereal formulations. For this purpose, a comprehensive study has been carried out to increase the understanding of drying and flow characteristics of Moringa (leaves and powder) using different drying and grinding mechanisms. The findings of this study regarding drying treatments, nutrients preservation, flowability and different grinding mechanisms can also be applied to other herbs and leaves. A correlation between Carr Index and Cohesion Index established successfully. This study will be helpful to conduct further research in food processing because Carr Index is simple and easy to measure as compared to Cohesion Index that requires both texture and powder flow analyzers.

Chemical constituents and biological activities of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) -A review

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2008

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is used as spice, preservative, colouring matter and has wide range of medicinal and pharmacological applications. It exhibits anti-inflammatory, anti-HIV, anti-bacterial, antioxidant, nematocidal, antiparasitic, antispasmodic and anticarcinogenic activities. It is a potent scavenger of a variety of reactive oxygen species (ROS) including superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical, singlet oxygen, peroxynitrite and nitric oxide. It is a inhibitor of ROS generating enzymes, cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase and plays active role in the inhibition of COX-I and COX-II enzymes that are involved in the inflammatory reaction. The turmeric extract protects lipids, haemoglobin, and red blood cells from lipid peroxidation induced by hydrogen peroxide. It prevents oxidative damage and inhibits binding to toxic metabolites to DNA. Safety evaluation studies indicate that turmeric is well tolerated at very high dose (0.5 to 1.5 g/day/person) without any toxic effects. Turmeric contains 3-6% polyphenolic compounds, collectively known as curcuminoids, which is a mixture of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin. Curcuminoids are major components responsible for various biological actions. Pure curcumin has more potent superoxide anion scavenging activity than demethoxycurcumin or bisdemethoxycurcumin. Curcumin acts as a pro-oxidant in the presence of transition metal ions (Cu and Fe) and is a potent bioprotectant with a potentially wide range of therapeutic applications.

Clinical development of curcumin in neurodegenerative disease

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2015

Curcumin, a polyphenolic antioxidant derived from the turmeric root has undergone extensive preclinical development, showing remarkable efficacy in wound repair, cancer and inflammatory disorders. This review addresses the rationale for its use in neurodegenerative disease, particularly Alzheimer's disease. Curcumin is a pleiotropic molecule, which not only directly binds to and limits aggregation of the β-sheet conformations of amyloid characteristic of many neurodegenerative diseases but also restores homeostasis of the inflammatory system, boosts the heat shock system to enhance clearance of toxic aggregates, scavenges free radicals, chelates iron and induces anti-oxidant response elements. Although curcumin corrects dysregulation of multiple pathways, it may exert many effects via a few molecular targets. Pharmaceutical development of natural compounds like curcumin and synthetic derivatives have strong scientific rationale, but will require overcoming various hurdles including; high cost of trials, concern about profitability and misconceptions about drug specificity, stability, and bioavailability.

Parthenium hysterophorus: an emerging threat for Curcuma longa fields of Kasur District, Punjab, Pakistan

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2012

Kasur district contributes more than 80% of Turmeric production in Pakistan. The fields of Curcuma longa L. along with the surroundings were surveyed and marked to study the distribution and development pattern of the alien invasive weed parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) into fields of Kasur district. For this purpose, fields of Curcuma longa L. in five villages of the district comprising of at least four hectares cultivated with this crop and five fields in each village where crop has been cultivated regularly for the last five years were marked for investigating weed development pattern. The farmers of the marked fields had a concept that weeds can not affect the Curcuma longa fields due to its medicinal nature. Parthenium development pattern inside the fields was observed at different stages of crop. The excessive parthenium growing adjacent to water channels had a maximum percentage of parthenium inside the fields with other major weeds; while its percentage was less inside those fields whose adjacent water channels were clean or having less parthenium incidence. Observations showed that canal water channels played critical role in the development of parthenium in the turmeric fields. Environmental conditions of Curcuma longa fields is favoring parthenium to invade and dominate, therefore there is a need for observation and an urgent parthenium management strategy for restricting further spread in the fields of Curcuma longa L. in future. INTRODUCTION Weeds deprive the desired crop species from the available resources by a number of ways (Rao, 1983). The negative influence upon the crops ultimately affects the welfare of human being as energy is diverted in unwanted direction. Competition for habitat

Turmeric and Curcumin: Biological actions and medicinal applications

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2003
CURR SCI INDIA

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is extensively used as a spice, food preservative and colouring material in India, China and South East Asia. It has been used in traditional medicine as a household remedy for various diseases, including biliary disorders, anorexia, cough, diabetic wounds, hepatic disorders, rheumatism and sinusitis. For the last few decades, extensive work has been done to establish the biological activities and pharmacological actions of turmeric and its extracts. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), the main yellow bioactive component of turmeric has been shown to have a wide spectrum of biological actions. These include its antiinflammatory, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, anticoagulant, antifertility, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal, antiviral, antifibrotic, antivenom, antiulcer, hypotensive and hypocholesteremic activities. Its anticancer effect is mainly mediated through induction of apoptosis. Its antiinflammatory, anticancer and antioxidant roles may be clinically exploited to control rheumatism, carcinogenesis and oxidative stress-related pathogenesis. Clinically, curcumin has already been used to reduce post-operative inflammation. Safety evaluation studies indicate that both turmeric and curcumin are well tolerated at a very high dose without any toxic effects. Thus, both turmeric and curcumin have the potential for the development of modern medicine for the treatment of various diseases.

Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Curcuminoid-Piperine Combination in Subjects with Metabolic Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial and an Updated Meta-Analysis

Article

Jan 2015
CLIN NUTR

Oxidative stress and inflammation have been proposed as emerging components of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Curcuminoids are natural polyphenols with strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. To study the effectiveness of supplementation with a bioavailable curcuminoid preparation on measures of oxidative stress and inflammation in patients with MetS. Our secondary aim was to perform a meta-analysis of data from all randomized controlled trials in order to estimate the effect size of curcuminoids on plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations. In this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial, 117 subjects with MetS (according to the NCEP-ATPIII diagnostic criteria) were randomly assigned to curcuminoids (n = 59; drop-outs = 9) or placebo (n = 58; drop-outs = 8) for eight weeks. Curcuminoids were administered at a daily dose of 1 g, and were co-supplemented with piperine (10 mg/day) in order to boost oral bioavailability. Serum activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) and CRP were measured at baseline and at study end. Regarding the importance of CRP as a risk marker and risk factor of cardiovascular disease, a random-effects meta-analysis of clinical trials was performed to estimate the overall impact of curcuminoid therapy on circulating concentrations of CRP. The robustness of estimated effect size was evaluated using leave-one-out sensitivity analysis. Supplementation with curcuminoid-piperine combination significantly improved serum SOD activities (p < 0.001) and reduced MDA (p < 0.001) and CRP (p < 0.001) concentrations compared with placebo. Quantitative data synthesis revealed a significant effect of curcuminoids vs. placebo in reducing circulating CRP concentrations (weighed mean difference: -2.20 mg/L; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -3.96, -0.44; p = 0.01). This effect was robust in sensitivity analysis. Short-term supplementation with curcuminoid-piperine combination significantly improves oxidative and inflammatory status in patients with MetS. Curcuminoids could be regarded as natural, safe and effective CRP-lowering agents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.

Biochemical Composition of Curcuma longa L. Accessions

Article

May 2013

The essential oil composition and total phenolic content (TPC) of curcuminoids were studied in rhizomes of nine Curcuma longa L. accessions. Curcuminoids, present in commercially available turmeric rhizomes, play vital roles in various pharmacological activities. A simple, rapid, and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography photodiode array (HPLC-PDA) method was optimized for simultaneous determination of curcuminoids, namely, a mixture of curcumin, demethoxy curcumin (DMC), and bisdemethoxy curcumin (BDMC) in rhizomes of C. longa. Chromatographic separation was performed on an RP C18 column within 13 minutes (11.4 to 12.95 minutes). Elution was accomplished by the application of acetonitrile and 1.5% acetic acid in water in a gradient system with flow rate of 2.0 mL min−1. PDA was employed for qualitative and quantitative analysis. The calibration curves were found linear (0.99) for all cucuminoids; the limit of detection and quantification ranged between 1.01 µ g mL−1 to 1.16 µ g mL−1 and 2.30 µ g mL−1 to 3.05 µ g mL−1, respectively, while recovery values ranged between 97.97% to 98.32%. The amount of curcumin varied from 0.46% to 2.17%, DMC from 0.13% to 0.92% and BDMC from 0.06% to 0.52%. The validated method was successively used to determine the above compounds in C. longa rhizomes. The TPC in rhizomes ranged from 14.12 mg g−1 to 27.72 mg g−1. The chemical composition of rhizome essential oil, analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS,) showed large variations in major compounds like ar-tumerone (7.31–38.66%), β-curcumene (1.58–24.53%), and curlone (1.55–15.97%).

Effect of mechanical drying air conditions on quality of turmeric powder

Article

Jun 2010

Mother and finger rhizomes 'PCT-8' ('Suvarna') variety of turmeric (Curcuma longa L) were boiled separately in open pan for 45 min at 100°C. The rhizomes were then dried using tray drier at air temperatures of 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65°C and drying air velocities of 1, 2 and 3 m/sec. The rhizomes were dried to ∼10 % (wb) moisture content. The dried rhizomes were polished manually and powdered. The volume of fresh and dried turmeric was determined and shrinkage ratio calculated. The colour of fresh and dried turmeric was determined. Change in colour (ΔE) with drying time was found to be 2.3 and 2.7 for fingers and mothers respectively at 60°C and 2 m/sec air velocity. The oleoresin content was 13.0 and 12.0% for fingers and mothers, respectively. The drying of turmeric took place in the falling rate period and was governed by moisture diffusion. The best quality turmeric was obtained by drying at 60°C air temperature and 2 m/sec air velocity.

Effect of heat processing of spices on the concentrations of their bioactive principles: Turmeric (Curcuma longa), red pepper (Capsicum annuum) and black pepper (Piper nigrum)

Article

May 2007

Studies were made to examine the loss of curcumin, capsaicin and piperine, the active principles of turmeric (Curcuma longa), red pepper (Capsicum annuum) and black pepper (Piper nigrum), respectively, as a result of subjecting the spices to domestic cooking processes. This involved heat treatment of each of these spices by: (i) boiling for 10 min, (ii) boiling for 20 min and (iii) pressure cooking for 10 min. Quantitation of the spice principles in the organic solvent extracts of the freeze-dried cooked spice samples was made with an appropriate HPLC method. Significant loss of spice active principles was observed when the spices were subjected to heat processing. Curcumin loss from heat processing of turmeric was 27–53%, with maximum loss in pressure cooking for 10 min. Curcumin loss from turmeric was similar even in the presence of red gram. In the presence of tamarind, the loss of Curcumin from turmeric was 12–30%. Capsaicin losses from red pepper ranged from 18% to 36%, with maximum loss observed in pressure cooking. Presence of either red gram or tamarind or both did not influence the loss of capsaicin. Piperine losses from black pepper ranged from 16% to 34%, with maximum loss observed in pressure cooking. The loss was somewhat lower in the presence of red gram. The results of this investigation indicated diminished availability of spice active principles from cooked foods when the food ingredients have been subjected to either boiling or pressure cooking for few minutes.

Effect of different drying treatments on concentration of curcumin in raw Curcuma longa L.

Abstract

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