The effect of drying method on some active ingredients of the extract of two species of Salvia

In the present study, the effect of drying methods on the bioactive compounds of the two salvia spieces,Salviaofficinalis  andsalvia nemorosa,was investigated. The experiment was performed as a factorial experiment with two factors in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The first factor was two species of salvia and the second factor was drying method in 4 levels of shade drying for 144 hours, drying under the sun irradiation for 78 hours and drying in oven at 40 and 70°C for 37 and 6 hours, respectively. With concidering two levels for the first factor and four levels for the second factor, 8 treatments were studied in the experiment. The results showed that the highest extract yield (11%) was obtained from samples which dried in the oven with 70°C and in both species with a higher rate inS.nemorosa. The percentage of weight loss was not affected by drying methods but it affected by species andS.officinalis had the highest weight loss compared to another specie. High value of total phenolic compounds, total flavonoids, total tannin and antioxidant properties of two speiceswere found in samples dried in shade, and the lowest value of these traits were recorded in plants which dried in the oven at 70°C. High contents of phenolic acids including chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid and salvainolic acidwere recorded  in both species which dried at shade condition and the lowest amount were found in samples dried in oven at 70°C. Also, salvainolicacid and rosmarinic acid was recorded at high level of phenolic acids in samples dried at shad condition.By comparing breeded (S. officinalis) and native species (S. nemorosa), it was found that the native species can have outstanding features for domestication, improvement and further research.