Moisture Sorption Behavior of Orthosiphon stamineus Ground Powder during Storage.

The Orthosiphon stamineus or also known as misai kucing is one of the popular Malaysian herbal plant. Synthetically, normally this herbal plant is offered with high measure of flavones, polyphenols, bioactive dynamic proteins, proteins, glycosides, unstable oil, and endless amounts of potassium. These bioactive compounds are beneficial for human healthy. In this current study, the moisture sorption behavior of 0. stamineus ground powder was investigated. The study on moisture sorption behavior is important to monitor the storage stability criteria and shelf life of 0. stamineus ground powder. Moisture sorption behavior of 0. stamineus ground powder were determined through the gravimetric method at two selected temperature (4 and 30 °C). Five type of different saturated salts such as lithium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium carbonate, sodium bromide and potassium nitrate were used in this study. The setup range of equilibrium relative humidity (ERH) were 11 to 95%. Based on the results, it was noted that the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of the samples increased when the ERH increased at both temperature (4 and 30 °C) during storage. In addition, it also can be observed that the EMC of the ground powder samples were higher when stored at low temperature (4 °C) compared to the samples stored at ambient temperature (30 °C). However, it is not suggested to expose the 0. stamineus ground powder samples at high ERH (90%) because that condition could stimulate the growth of microbial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]