Studies On The Changes Of Physiological Characteristics And Active Ingredients In Medicinal Chrysanthemum Flower Heads Processing

Most of active ingredients in medicinal plants are secondary metabolites.However,active ingredient content in medicinal plants is not high enough to have a health-promoting effect.So,the researches on improving activingredients in medicinal plants is increasing.The paper,medicinal chrysanthemums as tested materials,mainly studied: the effects of storing time on physiological characteristics,nutritional and active ingredients in postharvest flowers of medicinal chrysanthemum,and the effects of different drying methods on the active and nutritional ingredients in postharvest flowers of medicinal chrysanthemum,in order to determining the optimal storing time and the best drying conditions for different drying methods,which can gain the higher nutritional and active ingredients in medicinal chrysanthemum flower heads.The results as followed:1.The effects of storing time on physiological characteristics,nutritional and active ingredients in medicinal chrysanthemum flower heads.The experiment included seven levels of storing time: 0,0.5,1,2,4,6 and 8 h.The results indicated that the rate of superoxide radical production,the contents of malondialdehyde,anthocyanins and carotenoids in flowers after postharvest was significantly increased.The activities of PAL and C4 H in flowers were increased and then decreased with the increasing of storing time,and reached the maximum value at 1-2 h.The storing treatment(except for T2 and T3)was significantly increased the content of flavonoids.However,the contents of chlorogenic acid and total vitamin C in postharvest flowers first decreased and then increased with the increasing of storing time,and the increased amount was the highest at 1 h.Comprehensive analysis revealed that the higher contents of flavonoids and chlorogenic acid could be retained in flowers after postharvest 2-6 h,and the higher contents of soluble sugar,total vitamin C and free amino acid could be retained in flowers after postharvest 0.5-2 h.Therefore,the best processing time of flowers was about at postharvest 2 h,which could simultaneously gain the higher contents of active and nutritional ingredients in flowers.2.The effects of different drying methods on the active and nutritional ingredients in medicinal chrysanthemum flower heads.The experiment included four drying methods: microwave drying,steaming drying,fixing drying and stoving drying.The results indicated that:(1)the contents of flavone and chlorogenic were significantly increased with the increasing of microwave power.However,microwave treatments significantly decreased amino acid content in flowers.The contents of soluble sugar and vitamin C first increased and then decreased.The optimal microwave drying power was about 680-850 W,and the microwave time was about 8-13 min.(2)the contents of flavone and chlorogenic were significantly increased with the increasing of steaming time.However,the contents of amino acid,soluble sugar and vitamin C were first increased and then decreased with the increasing of steaming time.The optima steaming time was about 2-4 min.(3)the contents of flavone,chlorogenic acid and vitamin C were first increased and then decreased with the increasing of fixing time.Fixing drying treatments significantly decreased amino acid content and increased soluble sugar content.The optimal fixing time was about 0.5-1 min.(4)the optimal stoving temperature was about 55-65 °C,which could simultaneously gain the higher contents of active and nutritional ingredients in flowers.This study further broadened the field of medicinal chrysanthemum,provided the processing parameters for the different processing methods,and revealed the change law of active and nutritional ingredients in chrysanthemum flower heads with storing time.At the same time,the variation regularity of chrysanthemum flower heads with the storing time was also clarified.This will provide a theoretical basis for the processing of medicinal chrysanthemum,and will effectively promote the development and utilization of medicinal plant resources.