Abstract
The aim of this study was to prepare Moringa oleifera Lam. (Drumstick/Sehjan) flower powder and evaluate its nutritional properties. Fresh Moringa flowers were harvested, washed, oven-dried at 45 °C for 24 h, pulverized, sieved and vacuum-packed for storage. Proximate content analysis revealed that the powder contained 29.20 g protein, 7.46 g fat, 5.30 g moisture, 4.10 g ash, 3.71 g crude fibre and 50.23 g carbohydrate per 100 g. It was also rich in minerals with 30.5 mg iron and 160 mg calcium, and vitamin C concentration was 39.60 mg per 100 g. Antioxidant assay revealed its high potential of 78.57% scavenging activity at 0.4 mg/mL methanol extract, which is probably due to phenolic compounds. The presence of tannins was confirmed in the water extract. The results indicate that Moringa flower powder is a protein-rich, mineral and vitamin-rich, shelf-stable food ingredient suitable for functional foods, designer foods and dietary supplements. moringa flower has the potential to enhance the diets of malnourished populations.
Introduction
The tropical tree known as the drumstick tree, which botanical name Moringa oleifera Lam. in which ‘Moringa’ is the genus, ‘oleifera’ is the species and ‘Lam.’ is abbreviated form of scientist name Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who’s described first this species of moringa plant. This tree is a well-known member of the Morningaceae family and is thought to have come from the sub-Himalayan forests of the Indian subcontinent (Kunyanga et al. 2013) [10]. The Moringa family has 13 different species, but Moringa oleifera is the most popular because it can be used for food, biogas production, fertiliser, and more (Choudhary and Chaurasia 2017) [4]. Horseradish, drumstick, benzolive, kelor, emlonge, marango, sajhihan, sajna, and mulanga trees are some of the regional names for Moringa oleifera. Other names include “mother’s best friend,” “ben oil tree,” and “miracle tree” (Mahato et al. 2022, Decraen et al. 1998) [12, 5]. The National Institute of Health named it the “Botanical of the Year in 2007” (Gupta et al. 2018). The tree is drought resistant, tending to thrive in places with annual rainfall ranging from 250 to 1500 mm. It prefers well-drained sandy loam or loamy soils, but can tolerate clay soils. Moringa is directly sown, or transplanted, or by hard stem cuttings. Moringa has been found to flower from January to April, peaking in February (Dhakad et al. 2023) [6]. Depending on the weather, the trees may flower twice a year or all year round. Moringa flowers profusely during the season and only about 1% of it bears fruit (Sadashakti, 1995) [17]. India is the global leader in Moringa production, and domestic consumption as well as exports are slowly increasing (Nagar and Dhaked, 2025) [14]. Also known as a “superfood,” Moringa oleifera Lam. is a highly nutritious plant that has gained a lot of attention over the past few years. Not only are the flowers nutritious, but they also make up a very important component of this special plant—they contain vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds. It has 7 times as much vitamin C as oranges, 17 times as much calcium as milk, 25 times as much iron as spinach, 15 times as much potassium as bananas, 9 times as much protein as yoghurt, and 10 times as much vitamin A as carrots (Rajbhar et al. 2018) [16]. The nutrient composition of 100 g flower powder of Moringa oleifera was determined and expressed as ash content approximate 3 g, moisture content 5 g, protein content 12 g, 3 g fibre, 45 mg of vitamin C, 48 mg of calcium, 11 mg of iron, 32 mg of phosphorus, and 160 μg of beta carotene. Moringa also high in nutritional value like vitamins, proteins, beta-carotene, amino acids, and other phenolics like beta sitosterol, caffeoylquinic acid, quercetin, zeatin, and kaempferol. In trace amounts, it contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (Lakshmi Priya Gopal Krishnan, 2016) [11]. Nine amino acids, sucrose, D-glucose, and wax are all present in the flowers. The fresh juice of the flowers mixed with buttermilk is given as medicine to treat asthma attacks, insufficient urination, indigestion, gravel in the bladder. Asthma attacks, insufficient urination, indigestion, and bladder gravel are all treated with a mixture of fresh flower juice and buttermilk. In treating nephritis, congestive heart failure, cystitis, pyelitis, gonorrhoea, and other conditions, the juice, when taken twice with coconut water, functions as a diuretic tonic-medicine (Fahy, 2005) [7]. To make babies and kids healthy with strong bones, nerves, and blood, as well as a high resistance to infections and malnutrition, the flower is mixed with milk rather than water and given to them once a day.
Objectives
1. To formulation of the Moringa flower powder
2. To analyse the nutritional composition of developed moringa flower powder
2. Materials and Methods
The flowers of Moringa oleifera (Family Moringaceae) were all picked at once from the campus of Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Foods and Nutrition laboratory did the proximate and vitamin C tests, as well as the antinutrient test. The Molecular Biology and Bio-Technology laboratory at Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, did the antioxidant test. The National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) has a Regional Centre in Udaipur, Rajasthan, where mineral analysis was done.
2.1 Formulation of Moringa flower powder
The process of making moringa flower powder from fresh moringa flowers includes several important steps to ensure quality and preservation shown in Figure 1.
2.1.1 Collection: Fresh moringa flowers were collected from the university campus.
2.1.2 Shorting and Grading: The stalks and rotten flower are carefully removed from the fresh flowers.
2.1.3 Cleaning and Washing: Thoroughly cleaned and wash to remove dirt and impurities.
2.1.4 Oven Drying: The cleaned flowers dried by loss on drying method at a controlled temperature of 45 °C for 24 hours in forced convection hot air oven. This reduces moisture with minimum loss of nutrients.
2.1.5 Grinding: The dried moringa flowers are ground into a fine powder by using of 150W electric grinding machine.
2.1.6 Sieving: This powder is passed through a sieve to ensure consistent particle size.
2.1.7 Storage: The sieved moringa flower powder is vacuum packaged to keep it fresh, extend its shelf life, and protect it from environmental contaminants. This process ensures the production of high-quality moringa flower powder for various uses.
2.2 Nutritional composition of Moringa oleifera flower powder
2.2.1 Proximate analysis of moringa flower powder
- Estimation of Moisture content: Moisture content of Moringa oleifera flower powder was measured by using loss on drying method (AOAC, 2016) [2].
- Estimation of Protein content: The Micro-kjeldahl method (AOAC, 2000) [3] was used to estimate protein composition in the flower powder
- Estimation of Fat Content: Using an automatic SOCS plus solvent extraction apparatus, the Soxhlet method was used to estimate the fat content.
- Fibre content estimation: The standard method was used to analyse the fibre content (AOAC, 2016) [2].
- Ash content estimation: The standard method was used to analyse the ash content (AOAC, 2016) [2].
- Estimation of Carbohydrate content: Carbohydrate content was determined on a dry weight basis using difference method (Jain and Mogra, 2006) [9].
- Carbohydrates (g/100 g) = 100-(moisture + crude fiber + ash + protein + fat)
2.2.2 Mineral and Vitamin analysis of moringa flower powder
The wet digestion method described by Jain and Mogra (2006) [9] was used to prepare mineral solutions of the materials. Iron was estimated using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and the mineral solution was kept in cosmetic bottles. Additionally, the titrimetric method using ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) was used to determine the calcium content. Titration method was used to analyse the content of vitamins, especially Ascorbic acid (vitamin C).
2.2.3 Antioxidants and Antinutrient analysis of moringa flower powder
DPPH scavenging activity, Sriramulu et al. (2009) [18] method was used to extract the antioxidant content and analysis as outlined by Gull et al. (2016) [19]. To find out whether tannin compounds were present in the flower powder extract, a ferric ion reduction test was carried out. The presence of tannin in the sample is indicated by a quick change in the solution’s colour and the development of a green precipitate.
2.2.4 Statistical analysis
The statistical analysis of the results was done by Microsoft excel in which mean and standard deviation was calculated for moringa flower powder.
3. Results
The powdered Moringa oleifera flower was subjected to proximate analysis. The results are displayed in Table 1. It was found that the dried Moringa flower powder contains 5.30±0.10 g of moisture, 29.20±0.06 g of crude protein, 7.46±0.16 g of fat, 4.10±0.20 g of ash, 3.71±0.10 g of crude fiber, and 50.23±0.08 g of carbohydrates per 100 g.
Table 1: Proximate composition of moringa flower powder per 100 g (dry weight Basis)
According to Table 2 mineral and vitamin composition, moringa flower powder has 30.5±0.30 mg of iron and 160±45 mg of calcium per 100 g. and the vitamin C content of moringa flower powder is 39.60±0.01 mg.
Table 2: Mineral and vitamin C content of moringa flower powder per 100 g (dry weight Basis)
The antioxidant activity of methanol extracted Moringa flower powder is shown in Table 3. The table shows that at a concentration of 0.4 mg/mL methanol extract, Moringa flower powder displayed 78.57±0.22 percent scavenging activity.
The phenolic compounds found in this Moringa flower may be the reason for this. However, because the ferric chloride test came back positive, the water extracted Moringa flower powder also contains tannins.
Table 3: Antioxidant content and tannin test of moringa flower powder per 100 g (dry weight Basis)
4. Perspectives of moringa flower in nutritional supplements
- Moringa flower powder can be used to develop protein enriched supplements to fight with malnutrition and public health issue due to its high content of protein.
- Moringa flower powder have potential to combat micronutrient deficiencies particularly in women and children.
- Moringa flower powder incorporation in daily meal can enhance the nutritional values of daily meal.
- Moringa flower powder is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C which protect cells from free radicals activity.
5. Conclusion
The present study concluded that Moringa flower powder rich in protein, vitamin c, mineral and antioxidants content. and findings suggest that Moringa flower powder offers a balanced nutritional profile, making it suitable for enhancing the dietary quality of functional foods and supplements. its high protein and Vitamin C content, along with essential minerals, Moringa flower powder can contribute significantly to meeting nutritional requirements, particularly in populations vulnerable to protein-energy malnutrition. Moreover, the low moisture content Favors extended shelf life, which is essential for supplement formulation and storage. Overall, Moringa flower powder presents itself as a natural, nutrient-dense, and shelf-stable ingredient that can be effectively utilized in the development of nutritional supplements aimed at improving public health and combating malnutrition.
6. Recommendations
Further studies focusing on micronutrient profiling, bioavailability, and clinical efficacy are recommended to fully explore its potential in human nutrition.
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Gaurav Dhaked, Vishakha Singh, Sumitra Meena, Latika Vyas and Rajshree Upadhyay, Formulation and nutritional composition of moringa flower powder for use in nutritional supplements, DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33545/26174693.2025.v9.i7d.4728, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/393457427
