Journal of Food Engineering 98 (2010) 385–392

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Journal of Food Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Effects of spray drying conditions on the physicochemical and antioxidant

properties of the Gac (Momordica cochinchinensis) fruit aril powder
Tuyen C. Kha a, Minh H. Nguyen b,c,*, Paul D. Roach b
a
Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Nong Lam University, Viet Nam
b
School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Richmond, NSW 2258, Australia
c
School of Natural Sciences, University of Western Sydney, NSW 2753, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Gac fruit aril has an attractive orange red colour and very high level of carotenoids, giving it exceptional
Received 21 October 2009 antioxidant properties. However, spray drying of this material has not been successful and malto dextrin
Received in revised form 12 January 2010 is considered as a suitable drying aid to preserve its colour and antioxidant properties. This paper reports
Accepted 18 January 2010
the effects of inlet drying air temperature (120, 140, 160, 180 and 200 °C) and maltodextrin addition (10%,
Available online 25 January 2010
20% and 30%) on the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of the Gac aril powder. Moisture con-
tent and bulk density, colour characteristics, total carotenoid content (TCC), encapsulation efficiency
Keywords:
and total antioxidant activity (TAA) were significantly affected by maltodextrin concentration and the
Carotenoids
Spray drying
inlet air temperatures. However, pH, aw and water solubility index were not significantly influenced by
Gac aril the spray drying conditions. Overall, a good quality Gac powder in terms of colour, TCC and TAA can
Gac powder be produced by spray-drying at inlet temperature of 120 °C and adding maltodextrin concentration at
Antioxidant activity 10% w/v.
Crown Copyright Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
It is well known that carotenoids from plant based foods play a
crucial role in human health (Rao and Rao, 2007; Roberts et al.,
2009). Gac fruit, Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng, is one of the
special fruits containing extraordinarily high levels of carotenoids,
especially b-carotene (more than 16 mg/100 g) and lycopene (more
than 50 mg/100 g), mainly in the red aril (Bauernfield, 1971;
Vuong, 2000; Aoki et al., 2002). Consumption of carotenoid-rich
Gac fruit can increase plasma b-carotene and retinol levels (Vuong
et al., 2002) and has been linked with a lower risk of prostate can-
cer (Guns and Cowell, 2005; Chan et al., 2009) and coronary heart
disease (Rao and Agarwal, 1999). Moreover, Gac fruit compara-
tively contains high concentrations of other nutrients such as vita-
min E (7.6 mg/100 g), unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids
(852 mg/100 g of edible portion) (Vuong, 2000; Vuong et al., 2006)
that are very well known as beneficial for human health. The pres-
ence of fat in the Gac pulp plays an important role in the absorp-
tion of carotenes, vitamin E and other fat-soluble nutrients
(Kuhnlein, 2004). It is desirable to have it in powder form for ease
* Corresponding author. Address: School of Environmental and Life Sciences,
University of Newcastle, Richmond, NSW 2258, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 4570 1343;
fax: +61 2 434 84145.
E-mail addresses: m.nguyen@uws.edu.au, Minh.Nguyen@newcastle.edu.au
(M.H. Nguyen).
of consumption to benefit from the nutrients and the attractive red
colour of the aril.
Spray drying has been widely utilised for commercial produc-
tion of dried fruits and vegetables. Spray-dried powders have good
reconstitutional characteristics, low water activity and are suitable
for transport and storage. Furthermore, it is a highly appropriate
process for heat sensitive components such as carotenoids. Spray
drying has been successfully applied for carotenoid stability in
plant foods such as carrots, tomato pulp, sweet potato and sea
buckthorn (Wagner and Warthesen, 1995; Goula and Adamopou-
los, 2005; Grabowski et al., 2006; Laos et al., 2007). Earlier attempt
by Tran et al. (2008) to spray dry enzyme treated Gac aril was not
very successful, so a drying aid is considered for use in this study.
Several additives such as maltodextrin, gum Arabic and gelatine
may serve as drying aid to facilitate drying. Currently, maltodextrin
is one of the common drying aids for spray drying owing to its ben-
eficial role as a carrier or an encapsulating agent in increasing the
stability of carotenoids, reasonably cheap and commercially avail-
able. The addition of maltodextrin before spray drying has been re-
ported to be effective in preserving carotenoids such as b-carotene
(Desobry et al., 1997); carrot carotenes (Wagner and Warthesen,
1995); blackcurrant, apricot and raspberry juices (Bhandari et al.,
1993); guava juice (Chopda and Barrett, 2001) and pineapple juice
(Abadio et al., 2004). Furthermore, colour of foods is one of the
most important sensory attributes which is affected by many
factors during spray drying such as the inlet temperature and

0260-8774/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2010.01.016
386 T.C. Kha et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 98 (2010) 385–392
additives (Abadio et al., 2004). However, very little information is
published on Gac fruit and no study on spray drying conditions
using maltodextrin as the carrier/encapsulating agent has been re-
ported for producing Gac fruit powder.
This paper reports the effects of varying maltodextrin concen-
trations and spray drying temperatures on the physicochemical
and antioxidant properties of Gac fruit powder made from its aril.
These include moisture content, density, pH, water activity, water
solubility, colour, carotenoid content and antioxidant activity.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Chemicals
All chemicals used in this research, being n-Hexane 95%, ace-
tone P99.5%, carotene (approx. 2:1 of b:a) mixed isomers from
carrots, P95% (HPLC) powder form, sodium bisulfite P99%, L-
ascorbic acid 99%, potassium persulfate 99.99% metal basis, meth-
anol spectrophotometric grade, trolox ((S)-()-6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-
tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic Acid, 98%), and ABTS (2,20 -azi-
no-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium) were
purchased from Sigma–Aldrich Pty. Ltd.
2.2. Fresh Gac fruit aril preparation
Fresh Gac fruit were purchased from a local market in Hochi-
minh City, Vietnam. The fruit was transported in an insulated hard
plastic container to avoid light and temperature exposure during
transport, and used on the same day. The whole Gac fruit was
scooped out and the red aril surrounding the seeds was completely
separated. For each experimental run, the red aril (0.5 kg) was
blended in distilled water (2.5 l), in the ratio of 1–5, in a laboratory
blender. The resulting juice was twice filtered using a filter screen
of 100 lm mesh to avoid blocking of the dryer atomiser.
Next, different ratios of commercial maltodextrin (12 DE, Gluci-
dexÒ, Roquette, France) were added into the juice, which was
blended and finally filtered before spray drying. The three ratios
of maltodextrin 12 DE to the juice were 10%, 20% and 30%
weight/volume (w/v). The ratios chosen were deduced from litera-
ture and other runs with air drying, not being reported here. Preli-
minary spray drying trials showed that when the concentration of
maltodextrin 12 DE was lower than 10%, there was pumping prob-
lem and most materials stuck on chamber wall; when the concen-
tration of maltodextrin was higher than 30%, the resulting powder
lost their attractive red–orange colour. Feed material for all the
runs had to come from one master batch to be consistent, so there
was just enough for duplicated runs.
2.3. Spray drying conditions for fresh Gac fruit aril solution
The feed mixtures comprising added maltodextrin and red flesh
Gac fruit juice were spray-dried in a Lab Plant SD-05 spray dryer
(Lab Plant Ltd., England). The inlet temperatures/measured outlet
temperatures were 120 °C/83 °C, 140 °C/94 °C, 160 °C/103 °C,
180 °C/112 °C and 200 °C/125 °C. The drying air flow rate, com-
pressor air pressure and feed rate were constant, at 56 ± 2 (m3/h),
0.06 MPa gauge and 12–14 mL/min, respectively. After the spray-
ing process, the Gac fruit powder was collected in a glass collection
vessel wrapped with aluminium foil, and immediately stored in a
dessicator containing silica gel for equilibration to room tempera-
ture. The spray-drying processes were all carried out in duplicate.
2.4. Analytical methods
All analytical measurements were carried out in triplicate.
2.4.1. Moisture content
The moisture content of Gac samples were determined by dry-
ing at the temperature of 105 °C in the oven until a constant weight
was obtained.
2.4.2. Water activity (aw)
A water activity meter (AquaLab PawKit, Decagon Devices, USA)
was used to measure aw of the spray-dried powders.
2.4.3. pH determination
The pH value of Gac powders was determined for pH by blend-
ing 5 g powder with 25 mL deionized water at 20 °C, using the pH
meter calibrated with standard buffers pH 7 and 4.
2.4.4. Colour characteristics
The colour of Gac fruit powder sample was determined using a
Minolta Chroma Meter calibrated with a white standard tile. The
results were expressed as Hunter colour values of L*, a*, and b*,
where L* was used to denote lightness, a* redness and greenness,
and b* yellowness and blueness. Prior to measurement, the powder
samples were packed into a polyethylene pouch and measured.
Hunter values of the samples for each treatment method were
measured in triplicate.
Chroma, indicating colour intensity, was calculated by the for-
mula (a*2 + b*2)1/2. The hue angle (H°) was calculated by the for-
mula H° = arctan(b*/a*). The hue angle values vary from 0° (pure
red colour), 90° (pure yellow colour), 180° (pure green colour) to
270° (pure blue colour). The ratio of a*/b* was also used for the col-
our measurement. Total colour difference or change between two
samples was calculated by the formula as follows:
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
DE ¼ ðL0  L Þ2 þ ða0  a Þ2 þ ðb0  b Þ2
where L0 , a0  and b0  are the values of the samples at zero time,
and L*, a* and b* the measured values of each sample after process-
ing or reconstitution (Duangmal et al., 2008).
2.4.5. Water solubility index (WSI)
The WSI of the powders was determined using the method de-
scribed by Anderson et al. (1969). Spray-dried Gac fruit powder
(2.5 g) and distilled water (30 mL) were vigorously mixed in a
100 mL centrifuge tube, incubated in a 37 °C water bath for
30 min and then centrifuged for 20 min at 10,000 rpm (11,410 g.)
in a J2-MC Centrifuge (Beckman, USA). The supernatant was care-
fully collected in a pre-weighed beaker and oven dried at a temper-
ature of 103 ± 2 °C. The WSI (%) was calculated as the percentage of
dried supernatant with respect to the amount of the original 2.5 g
Gac fruit powder.
2.4.6. Bulk density
Bulk density (g/mL) was determined by gently adding 2 g of Gac
powder into an empty 10 mL graduated cylinder and holding the
cylinder on a vortex vibrator for 1 min. The ratio of mass of the
powder and the volume occupied in the cylinder determines the
bulk density value (Goula et al., 2004).
2.4.7. Extraction and separation
A method described by Tran et al. (2008) was employed, with
some modifications, to extract the carotenoid content from the
Gac samples. Approximately 0.1 g of Gac powder was weighted
in beaker and then extracted with 10 mL of the solvent, which is
a mixture of n-hexane:acetone (v/v 3:2). The residue was further
extracted four times using a magnetic stirrer until colourless, each
time with 5 mL of the solvent. The extracts were combined and
washed twice to remove acetone, each time with 25 mL of distilled
water in a separating funnel. A few drops of saturated NaCl
 T.C. Kha et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 98 (2010) 385–392 387

solution were added to the funnel to facilitate phase separation.
The upper pulp was collected to measure total carotenoid content
and lipophilic antioxidant activity. The lower pulp was collected to
measure hydrophilic antioxidant activity. The process was con-
ducted under dim light and analyzed within one day.
2.4.8. Determination of total carotenoid content
Carotene solution (0.0005–0.01 mg/mL) was used to construct
the standard curve for the determination of total carotenoid con-
tent. Total carotenoid content of the Gac fruit powders was spec-
trophotometrically determined at 473 nm and expressed based
on carotene equivalents (mg/g of powder).
2.4.9. Determination of total antioxidant activity by the ABTS assay
The procedure for determination of total antioxidant activity
followed the method of Thaipong et al. (2006). A 7.4 mM ABTS
[(2,20 -azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazonline-6-sulfonic acid)] solution
and a 2.6 mM potassium persulfate solution were used as the stock
solutions. The equal quantities of the stock solutions were mixed
as the working solution and reacted for 12–16 h at room tempera-
ture in the dark. This solution was then diluted by mixing 1 mL
ABTS solution with 60 mL methanol to obtain an absorbance of
1.1 ± 0.02 units at 734 nm using the spectrophotometer. Fresh
ABTS solution was prepared for each assay. Gac sample extracts
(0.15 mL) were reacted with 2.85 mL of the ABTS solution for 2 h
in a dark situation. The absorbance was spectrophotometrically ta-
ken at 734 nm. The standard curve was linear between 0.025 and
0.8 mM Trolox. Results were expressed in mmole Trolox equiva-
lents (TE)/g of powder.
2.4.10. Encapsulation efficiency (EE)
A method described by Shu et al. (2006) was employed, with
some modifications, to calculate encapsulation efficiency. The EE
(%) was determined as the ratio between the initial content of total
carotenoids before spray drying and the content of the final pow-
der product (mg/ g powder).
2.5. Statistical analysis
The experiments were carried out in duplicate and results were
presented as mean values with standard deviations. Different
mean values were analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and
least significant difference (LSD) using SPSS software version
17.0. The graphs of mean values and error bar were created using
Excel version 2003.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effects of spray drying conditions on the physical properties of Gac
powder
The effects of maltodextrin concentrations and different spray
drying temperatures on the physicochemical properties of Gac fruit
powder are shown in Table 1. Results showed that increasing mal-
todextrin concentration and drying temperature resulted in a
decreasing moisture content of the samples (p < 0.001). As malto-
dextrin concentration increased from 10% to 20% the moisture con-
tent of samples significantly reduced from 4.87% to 4.06%. A similar
trend was observed while increasing drying temperatures from
120 °C to 200 °C, resulting in a significant drop in moisture content
from 5.29% to 3.88%.
For spray drying in general, increasing drying temperature re-
sulted in greater loss of water of resultant powder, due to the high-
er rate of heat transfer into particles, causing faster water removal.
This is also shown in our result, moisture content of powders
reduced quickly as increasing air inlet temperature from 120 °C
to 200 °C and maltodextrin concentration from 10% to 30%. Simi-
larly, Goula et al. (2004), Chegini and Ghobadian (2005), Rodrí-
guez-Hernández et al. (2005), and Ersus and Yurdagel (2007)
reported that the moisture content in tomato powder, orange juice
powder, cactus pear juice powder and black carrot powder, respec-
tively, decreased as drying temperature increased.
Moreover, in this study a decrease in the moisture content of Gac
powder was also obtained when the maltodextrin concentration
increased. Similarly, Abadio et al. (2004) found that an increased
concentration of maltodextrin 10 DE, from 10% to 15%, reduced
the moisture content of resultant pineapple juice powders. A sim-
ilar result was also reported by Grabowski et al. (2006) who carried
out tests on sweet potato puree powder. These findings could be
explained by the fact that additional concentrations of maltodex-
trin resulted in an increase in feed solids and a reduction in total
moisture for evaporation.
In this study, the bulk density of Gac powders was significantly
affected by the drying temperature (p < 0.01), with decreasing
density observed with increased drying temperature. This is
consistent with the findings of a number of studies, that
increasing inlet air drying temperature results in reducing bulk
density (Walton and Mumford, 1999; Cai and Corke, 2000;
Goula et al., 2004; Chegini and Ghobadian, 2007). At very high
temperatures, very high drying processes are achieved implying
a lower shrinkage of the droplets, and so a lower density
of the powder. (Jumah et al., 2000; Walton, 2000; Chegini and
Ghobadian, 2005).

Table 1
Physicochemical properties of spray-dried Gac fruit powders.

MC (%) pH aw Bulk density (g/mL) WSI (%)

a
Maltodextrin concentration (MDC) 10% 4.87 ± 0.71 4.40 ± 0.18 0.50 ± 0.03 0.72 ± 0.05 37.49 ± 1.01
20% 4.54 ± 0.54b 4.40 ± 0.14 0.47 ± 0.05 0.70 ± 0.06 37.29 ± 0.74
30% 4.06 ± 0.47c 4.32 ± 0.12 0.46 ± 0.05 0.73 ± 0.07 37.46 ± 1.05
Drying temperature (DT) 120 °C 5.29 ± 0.50a 4.12 ± 0.08 0.50 ± 0.04 0.78 ± 0.05a 37.13 ± 0.80
140 °C 4.81 ± 0.49b 4.41 ± 0.10 0.49 ± 0.04 0.74 ± 0.05ab 37.62 ± 1.00
160 °C 4.47 ± 0.48c 4.32 ± 0.11 0.45 ± 0.06 0.70 ± 0.03bc 37.39 ± 0.92
180 °C 4.01 ± 0.18d 4.26 ± 0.19 0.47 ± 0.04 0.69 ± 0.05bc 37.34 ± 1.00
200 °C 3.88 ± 0.35d 4.45 ± 0.19 0.47 ± 0.05 0.66 ± 0.04c 37.59 ± 1.09
Significant interaction Significance
MDC *** NS NS NS NS
DT *** NS NS ** NS
DDC  DT ** NS NS NS NS

Values are mean ± SD (two replicates) after statistical analyses.

NS, *, ** and *** indicate not significant and significant at p = 0.05, 0.01 and 0.001, respectively.
The values in the same column followed by different superscripts (a–e) were significantly different (p < 0.05).
388 T.C. Kha et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 98 (2010) 385–392

The values of pH, aw and WSI of the Gac powders in this study the chroma (from 34.18 ± 5.97 to 25.94 ± 3.01) was observed at
were not significantly affected by inlet air drying temperature increasing maltodextrin concentrations (from 10% to 20%).
and maltodextrin concentration (p > 0.05). For pH value, this find- Spray drying temperature was another factor affecting the col-
ing is in agreement with the results of Gonzalez-Palomares et al. our characteristics of products, namely chroma, hue angle and a*/
(2009) who found that pH of the Roselle extract powders does b* value, but not lightness. A significant effect of drying tempera-
not change with different air drying temperatures. Moreover, aw ture on the a*/b* value and hue angle was statistically observed
is one of the most important factors that significantly influence (p < 0.01). Loss of redness of samples, resulting in low a*/b* value
the shelf life of powder products. High water activity in products and high hue angle, increased when increasing temperatures from
leads to shorter shelf life due to high free water for biochemical 120 °C to 200 °C; however, no statistical difference in the value of
degradations. The deterioration of dried powder caused by micro- a*/b* and hue angle between the temperatures of 120 °C, 140 °C
organisms and biochemical reactions can be prevented at aw lower and 160 °C, and no difference between these characteristics at
than 0.6 (Tang and Yang, 2004). The average aw of powders in this 180 °C and 200 °C, was significantly observed. In contrast, the
study ranged from 0.38 to 0.54 (Table 1), and can thus be consid- lightness of products was not significantly influenced by spray dry-
ered to be quite microbiologically stable. Additionally, from the re- ing temperature (p > 0.05).
sults shown in Table 1, the aw of powders decreased with Furthermore, statistical interaction between maltodextrin con-
increasing maltodextrin concentration. The results for aw of the centration and drying temperature was significantly obtained in
powders were consistent with the findings of the study carried the lightness and chroma values of the powder products. For the
out by Quek et al. (2007). They stated that the water activity of a*/b* value and hue angle of products, however, there was no sig-
spray-dried water melon powders was not significantly changed nificant interaction between the two factors.
by inlet temperatures of between 145 °C and 175 °C. Further, high- The total colour difference (DE) of reconstituted powders com-
er concentration of maltodextrin resulted in decrease in the aw of pared to feed mixtures before the spray-drying process is shown
the powders. in Fig. 2. The DE of reconstituted powders was not impacted by
The WSI of samples in the study was not influenced by different maltodextrin concentration (p > 0.05); however, a significant effect
drying conditions (p > 0.05). A similar observation was also re- of drying temperature on DE was statistically observed (p < 0.001).
ported by Sousa et al. (2008) who studied spray-dried tomato pow- Increasing drying temperature significantly resulted in an increase
ders. The range of WSI of samples in this study was 36.91–38.25%. in DE. Moreover, there was no significant interaction between mal-
These values were higher when compared to results for spray- todextrin concentration and drying temperature.
dried tomato powders, which ranged from 17.65% to 26.73% (Sousa
et al., 2008). However, the Gac fruit WSI values were much lower
compared to those of pineapple juice powder, with an average va-
lue of 81.56% (Abadio et al., 2004). This limitation for solubility of
Gac fruit powders could be due to a high content of liposoluble
substances, such as carotenoids and tocopherol, a significant level
of fatty acids, and high level of insoluble pulp in the original aril.
The level of screening/filtering still allows insoluble material to
pass through but no phase separation was observed.
Further, the solubility of powders can be affected by many
parameters such as initial compositions of the raw material to be
spray-dried, the carrier agents, compressed air flow rates, and
low feed rates (Bhandari et al., 1993; Al-Asheh et al., 2003; Goula
et al., 2004). For example, a superior water solubility property of
spray-dried cashew apple juice powder was obtained by using
cashew tree gum as the drying aid agent (De Oliveira et al.,
2009). Therefore, further investigation may need to be carried
out to identify methods for improving the water solubility of Gac
fruit powders further if desired.

3.2. Effects of spray drying conditions on the colour characteristics of

powder

Figs. 1a and 1b show the effects of different maltodextrin con-

centrations and drying temperatures on the colour characteristics
of spray-dried powders. In general, the colour characteristics of
spray-dried powders were significantly impacted by maltodextrin
concentration and drying temperature. For the lightness, the colour
of products was significantly affected by maltodextrin concentra-
tion (p < 0.01). An increase in the lightness of products was signif-
icantly obtained by increasing maltodextrin concentration from
10% to 20%. However, there was no significant difference in light-
ness of samples when the concentration increased from 20% to
30%. A consistent result was also observed in terms of the colour
characteristics of the a*/b* value and the hue angle. The highest va-
lue of a*/b* and the lowest hue angle were obtained in the sample
with an added 10% concentration of maltodextrin, both indicating
more redness. Moreover, the maltodextrin concentration also im- Fig. 1a. The lightness and chroma of Gac fruit powders as a result of different spray
pacted on the chroma value of samples (p < 0.001). Decreasing drying conditions.
 T.C. Kha et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 98 (2010) 385–392
Fig. 1b. The ratio a*/b* and hue angle of Gac fruit powders as a result of different
spray drying conditions.
Generally, an increase in the lightness value of the powders was
observed with an increased maltodextrin concentration due to the
effect of the maltodextrin. Because of white colour of maltodextrin,
a greater lightness of powders, represented by a higher L* value,
Fig. 2. Total colour differences of reconstituted Gac fruit powders after spray-
drying process.
389
was obtained at higher concentrations of maltodextrin. Similar re-
sults were also found in spray-dried sweet potato powders (Gra-
bowski et al., 2006) and in pineapple juice powders (Abadio
et al., 2004). On the other hand, the lightness of Gac fruit powders
in this study was not significantly influenced by the drying temper-
ature. However, Sousa et al. (2008) found that the highest value of
lightness of spray-dried tomato powders was observed at the high-
est inlet drying temperature, indicating less darkness due to the
pigment oxidation. In contrast, the lightness of water melon pow-
ders reduced when inlet drying temperature increased due to the
high content of sugar causing browning of powders (Quek et al.,
2007).
The chroma value of Gac fruit powders was significantly af-
fected by both the drying conditions of maltodextrin level and
the inlet drying temperature. High chroma value of powders was
observed at low maltodextrin concentration and at high tempera-
tures. This could be due to significant interaction between the two
factors investigated. This finding is in agreement with the results
reported by Quek et al. (2007).
Lower values of a*/b* and higher hue angles were observed as a
result of increasing maltodextrin concentration and increasing the
inlet drying temperature. These results indicate that the loss of
redness of powder products increased in these spray drying condi-
tions. A similar result was observed by Sousa et al. (2008) who re-
ported that a decrease in the value of a*/b* in tomato powder was
found with increasing the inlet drying temperature. Further studies
confirmed that increased drying temperatures resulted in low
retention in the redness colour of carrot products (Chen et al.,
1995) and of tomato products (Shi et al., 1999). The possible expla-
nation for this phenomenon is that carrying out the spray-drying
process with a high ratio of surface area and volume of feed mix-
ture caused rapid pigment oxidation (Desobry et al., 1997). There-
fore, the spray drying conditions at high temperature resulted in a
high loss of red colour due to thermal degradation of carotenoid
pigment. Goula and Adamopoulos (2005) indicated that a higher
loss of lycopene content in tomato powder was observed by
increasing the air inlet temperature. In terms of the maltodextrin
concentration, moreover, the lesser redness of Gac fruit powders
was due to the higher concentration of maltodextrin used in the
spray-drying process. As previously mentioned by Grabowski
et al. (2006), increasing maltodextrin resulted in an increase in
hue angle in sweet potato powders, indicating a loss of redness.
Fig. 3. Total carotenoid content of spray-dried powders as a result of different
drying conditions.
390 T.C. Kha et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 98 (2010) 385–392
Fig. 4. Encapsulation efficiency of spray-dried powders at different drying
conditions.
The trend for total colour difference of reconstituted Gac powder
products as a result of the spray-drying process was similar to the
results for redness in terms of being significantly affected by the
inlet drying temperature; however, not by the maltodextrin con-
centration. The reduction of redness, indicated by high hue angle
and low a*/b* value, is the possible explanation for an increased to-
tal colour difference in reconstituted Gac powders due to high inlet
temperature. Additionally, it can be clearly seen that DE is a func-
tion of value L*a*b*, therefore, increase in lightness with increased
inlet temperature was also a contribution to increasing DE. Contra-
dictorily, Rodríguez-Hernández et al. (2005) and Grabowski et al.
(2006) indicated that the influence of maltodextrin concentration
was found to be significant for the variation of DE in reconstituted
cactus pear juice and sweet potato puree powders, respectively.
Their different results may be due to different colour characteris-
tics of their raw materials and the different processing conditions.
3.3. Effect of spray drying conditions on the total carotenoid content
and encapsulation efficiency
The total carotenoid content (TCC) and encapsulation efficiency
(EE) of the Gac fruit powder products as a result of different spray
drying conditions are presented in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively.
The TCC in powder samples reduced from 1.95 mg/g to 0.61 mg/
g of powder as the maltodextrin concentration increased from 10%
to 30% (p < 0.001). Further, the spray drying temperature also af-
fected TCC; significant loss of TCC in samples was observed as tem-
perature increased from 120 °C to 200 °C (p < 0.001). However,
there was no statistical difference in TCC of samples at tempera-
tures between 140 °C and 160 °C; between 160 °C and 180 °C; or
between 180 °C and 200 °C. Overall the best TCC retained was
found with using only 10 maltodextrin at 120 °C.
According to Goula and Adamopoulos (2005), an increase in in-
let drying temperature resulted in a greater loss of lycopene con-
tent in tomato powders. Similarly, Quek et al. (2007) observed
that a decrease in the lycopene and b-carotene content of spray-
dried water melon powder occurred as a result of increasing the in-
let air temperature. The main reason for these findings is due to
thermal degradation and oxidation. In addition to the inlet temper-
ature, the loss of carotenoids in the Gac fruit powder samples was
also dependent on several factors, such as out let temperatures,
droplet moisture content, oxygen and exposure to light. These fac-
tors are governed by processing conditions such as feed rate, initial
feed solid concentration, drying and compressed air flow rate.
Moreover, the higher moisture content was obtained by powder
spray drying at lower inlet air temperatures. Increasing moisture
content caused a higher loss of lycopene, however, when moisture
content increased, a greater degree of aggregation occurred be-
cause of the natural stickiness of the product. This leads to there
being lower oxygen exposure resulting in lower lycopene loss
(Goula et al., 2004; Goula and Adamopoulos, 2005). Moreover,
carotenoids are easily vulnerable to thermal treatment and oxida-
tive processes due to their structure which contains a conjugated
double bond system over the entire length of the polyene chain
(Britton, 1995; Quek et al., 2007).
The EE of the study samples was also significantly influenced by
maltodextrin concentration and by drying temperature (p < 0.001).
Increasing maltodextrin concentration resulted in higher EE; how-
ever, no difference in EE between the concentration of 20% and 30%
was observed. Moreover, in general, EE of the samples reduced
from 76.6% to 48.0% as the drying temperature increased from
120 °C to 200 °C, respectively.
In terms of the effect of drying temperature, a similar pattern to
the TCC loss as a result of increasing the inlet temperatures was
also observed in relation to EE. It is indicated that increasing tem-
perature resulted in reduction of EE. The explanation for this phe-
nomenon is that the degradation of carotenoids at higher
temperature, as discussed above, leads to reduce EE. Further,
according to Shu et al. (2006), the balance between the rate of
water evaporation and film-formation may break due to high inlet
temperature; therefore, wall system of microcapsules is broken
down. This phenomenon will cause a low EE. Similar findings were
also reported by authors (Shu et al., 2006; Sua et al., 2008). How-
ever, Leach et al. (1998) stated that effect of inlet and outlet tem-
perature on EE was not important at low feed solid levels. The
higher EE was obtained when combination of these temperatures
was carried out. Overall, Fig. 4 shows that it was not required to
go past 20% maltodextrin for higher EE.
In this study, the TCC was significantly decreased when malto-
dextrin concentration was increased from 10% to 30%. This is due
to high maltodextrin concentration leading to lower TCC obtained
as the feed juice was constant. On the other hand, an increase in EE
was observed as increasing maltodextrin concentration. This is
well known that carotenoid content in powder is effectively pro-
tected at a high initial feed solid. Similar observations were found
Fig. 5. Total antioxidant activity of spray-dried powder under different dying
conditions.
 T.C. Kha et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 98 (2010) 385–392
in other studies (Wagner and Warthesen, 1995; Rodríguez-Huezo
et al., 2004).
It is well known that carotenoids are widely distributed in a
nature as red, yellow and orange pigments. Therefore, the content
of carotenoids could affect the colour of the spray-dried powder. In
this study, the relationship between carotenoid content and colour
characteristics in spray-dried powders was also considered.
According to Pearson correlation test, there was a high positive
correlation between TCC and a*/b* value (r = 0.65, p < 0.01) and a
high negative correlation between TCC and hue angle (r = 0.64,
p < 0.01).
However, better relationship between TCC and colour was
found when the powders were reconstituted. The strong positive
and negative correlations between TCC and a*/b* value (r = 0.75,
p < 0.01) and between TCC and hue angle (r = -0.74, p < 0.01),
respectively, were found. Similarly, Quek et al. (2007) also ob-
served that inverse relationship between hue angle and content
of lycopene and b-carotene was significant. Therefore, it can be
concluded that the higher TCC indeed resulted in redder colour
in spray-dried Gac aril powder.
3.4. Effect of spray drying conditions on total antioxidant activity
Fig. 5 shows total antioxidant activity of powder samples as a
result of different spray drying conditions. Generally, the two fac-
tors investigated, being the maltodextrin concentration and the
drying temperature, significantly affected TAA of powders
(p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in TAA between
the samples when adding maltodextrin at the concentrations of
10% and 20%. However, when the concentration increased from
20% to 30% loss of TAA was observed. Overall, in increasing the dry-
ing temperature from 120 °C to 200 °C significant loss of TAA was
observed, from 0.14 to 0.08 mmol TE/g of powder. However, there
was no statistical difference in TAA of samples spray-dried at tem-
peratures of 140 °C and 160 °C.
In a similar pattern to the results for the TCC of the samples,
increasing maltodextrin concentration and drying temperature re-
sulted in lower TAA of powder samples. The possible explanation is
that loss of TCC at higher drying temperatures, a major antioxidant
compound in spray-dried Gac powder, leads to TAA degradation.
Similarly, it is also explained for a decrease of TAA as increasing
maltodextrin also lowers TCC. Overall, Fig. 5 shows that the best
TAA was obtainable by using spray drying temperature of 120 °C
and maltodextrin at 10% w/v.
Fig. 6. TCC and TAA correlation under different spray drying conditions.
391
The recommended daily intake level of carotenoids is 0.7–
16.5 mg (MÜller, 1996). Many studies also indicate that consump-
tion of carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables, especially lycopene,
has been linked with lower risk of prostate cancer (Guns and Cow-
ell, 2005; Chan et al., 2009). Furthermore, the TCC of Gac powder
(2.8 mg/g) is much higher than that of other carotenoid-rich pow-
ders such as hot-air-dried pumpkin (0.14 mg/g) and carrot (1.1 mg/
g) (Muratore et al., 2008) and spray-dried watermelon powder
(1 mg/g) (Quek et al., 2007). Therefore, having established that
there are high levels of carotenoids and TAA in the powder, this
product is highly recommended.
Fig. 6 plots the values of TCC and TAA of powder products at
three levels of maltodextrin concentration and at five inlet air tem-
peratures. From Fig. 6, similar TAA values correspond with differ-
ent TCC’s at different maltodextrin concentrations were observed.
This demonstrates the effect of protection by the encapsulating
agent. Furthermore, TAA in the powders not only based on the
TCC but also other antioxidative components in Gac powders such
as a-tocopherol (vitamin E) and fatty acids which also benefitted
from the encapsulation and exert synergistic effects.
It is clear that there was strong correlation between TCC and
TAA (R2 = 0.915–0.948). The highest correlation was found at the
lowest maltodextrin concentration. Moreover, according to a Pear-
son correlation test between TCC and TAA results for different dry-
ing conditions, the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.482 and
significant at the level 0.01 level (2-tailed). The positive correlation
means that with increasing TCC, the TAA in the spay-dried Gac fruit
powders also increases. Likewise, Chanwitheesuk et al. (2005) re-
ported that a high correlation between total carotenes and the
antioxidant index was found in Piperaceae (R = 0.99) and in Cucur-
bitaceae (R = 0.87), however, the low correlation was found in
Umbelliferae (R = 0.46). In contrast to this result, a negative correla-
tion between total carotenoids and antioxidant activity in guava
fruit extract was observed by Thaipong et al. (2006). The different
result is likely to be due to the different raw materials and the ef-
fects of encapsulation.
Moreover, total colour difference of reconstituted powder in
corresponding to the feed juice strong negatively correlated to
TAA (r = 0.74, p < 0.01) and negatively to TCC (r = 0.47,
p < 0.01). It can be deduced that high TAA was obtained with less
colour difference in Gac powders during spray-drying process.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, the effect of spray drying conditions on the phys-
icochemical and antioxidant properties of Gac fruit powders was
investigated. Moisture content, bulk density, colour characteristics,
TCC, EE and TAA were significantly affected by maltodextrin con-
centration and by the inlet air temperatures. However, pH, aw
and WSI were not significantly influenced by the different spray
drying conditions in this study. The Gac powder spray-dried at in-
let temperature of 120 °C and maltodextrin concentration of 10%
was adequately effective in preserving colour, TCC and TAA. Strong
positive correlations among TCC, TAA and colour characteristics
were also confirmed.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by a scholarship by the Australian Aid
program to Mr. T.C. Kha.
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