Comparative study on three pretreatment methods before crushing Lycii Fructus / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective Three kinds of pretreatment methods were studied to compare and select the suitable pretreatment methods for Lycii Fructus (LF) reference standards to improve its crushing and packaging efficiency. Methods LF was treated by three pretreatment methods of decompression drying, liquid nitrogen freeze-drying, and freeze-drying. The difference of characteristic values before and after treatment was determined and compared with LF without pretreatment. The determination of characteristic values included the determination of moisture, content, etc. Results The water content of raw material of directly crushed LF was 6.4%, and the water content of the other three pretreated LF was 4.6%, 5.0%, and 5.2%, respectively. The content of polysaccharide and betaine in the raw material of directly crushed LF was 2.5% and 0.98%. The polysaccharide content of the other three pretreated LF was 2.6%, 2.8%, and 2.6%, respectively. The content of betaine was 0.94%, 1.00%, and 0.87% by the other three pretreatment methods. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the quality of LF obtained by the three pretreatment methods. Therefore, from an economic point of view, this paper recommended to use more affordable pretreatment method of decompression drying for LF. In addition, the pretreated raw materials of LF should be crushed and subpackaged as soon as possible, and the crushing and the dividing environment humidity should be strictly controlled at 20% to 30%, in order to improve the efficiency of crushing and dividing. Conclusion Based on the cost consideration, the decompression drying method is the most economical and effective of the three pretreatment methods. Therefore, the decompression drying method is recommended in actual work.