Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) is one of the most ancient medicinal plants that it has been medicinally used for thousands of years. In order to evaluate the effects of drying methods on drying time and qualitative characteristics of thyme, an experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design with six replications at the Special Laboratory, College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad during 2012. Leaves dried at three temperature with oven (30, 40 and 60ᵒC) and natural methods (shaded and sunny airs). The drying process was continued until the moisture content reduced about 10% based on dry weight. The results indicated that effects of different drying methods were significant (p≤0.01) on essential oil and Thymol contents of thyme. The highest Thymol and essential oil were observed in shaded air (with 0.7 and 54.7%, respectively) and their lowest were in 60ᵒC oven (with 0.2 and 19.8%, respectively).

Keywords