The species Cymbopogon citratus, known as lemon grass, is widely used for medicinal purpose and in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and perfumery industries. Due to the need for more specific knowledge of pre-processing management, this work aims to equate and analyze some drying aspects that allow preview the product quality alterations. The leaves from this species were cut at different lengths and dried at different temperatures. Different equations for modeling the drying curves were adjusted to the experimental data. The dried product was also evaluated for color and essential oil content. The results showed that the Modified Page model resulted in the best adjustment for the experimental data. The temperature of 50°C was the best for drying the species leaves, resulting in less essential oil loss and higher green color maintenance.
medicinal plant; essential oil; temperature; color
