Analisa minyak pati dari serai (Analysis of essential oil from lemongrass)

Sifat-sifat fizik dan kandungan sitral di dalam minyak serai (Cymbopogon citratus Stapf) telah dikaji. Di dapati sifat fizik minyak serai tempatan hampir sama dengan piawai EOA iaitu ketumpatan spesifiknya 0.899 dan indeks biasanya 1.478. Dua kaedah penentuan kandungan jumlah aldehid (sitral) iaitu dengan kaedah EOA (bisulfit) dan kaedah kromatografi gas (Carbowax 20M) telah dijalankan. Kaedah EOA memberikan nilai kandungan sitral sebanyak 65% manakala kaedah kromatografi gas pula ialah 58%. Bila dibandingkan dengan piawai EOA maka mutu minyak serai tempatan adalah rendah sedikit kerana kandungan sitralnya kurang dari 75%. Physical properties and citral content in lemongrass (Cymbopogon citrates Stapf) oil were studied. It was found that the physical properties of local lemongrass oil, i.e. specific gravity 0.899 and refrective index 1.478 were at par with EOA standard. Two techniques in determining the citral content in the oil, i.e. the EOA (bisulfate) technique and gas chromatographic method (Carbowax 20M) were carried out. With the EOA technique the citral content was 65% while using gas chromatographic method the citral content was 58%. When comparing with EOA standard, the quality of the local lemongrass oil was slightly low as the citral content was less than 75