摘要：Moringa stenopetala is a native plant in Ethiopia, which has a potential health effects due to its high bioactive contents.
The aim of this study was to optimize spray drying microencapsulation conditions to maximize the encapsulation
efficiency and total phenolic contents from M. stenopetala leaf extract. A Box-Behnken design was used to evaluate the
influence of a spray drying process conditions such as maltodextrin: high methoxyl pectin (MD:HP) ratios (10:0,
9.5:0.5, and 9:1), core: coating ratios (1:10, 1:8, and 1:6), and inlet air temperature (120, 140 and 160 °C) on the
encapsulation efficiency and total phenolic content (TPC) of microencapsulated bioactive products. The result showed
that these parameters had significant effects on the responses. The encapsulation efficiency and the total phenolic
contents of the microencapsulated bioactive product were in the range of 82.07–89.22% and 73.87–106.13 mg GAE/g
micro, respectively. The spray drying process conditions considerably affected the physical and functional properties of
the microencapsulated bioactive product. Similar trends were also observed on the antioxidant activities of the
microencapsulates. The best encapsulation efficiency and TPC were obtained at the optimum spray drying process
conditions: MD:HP ratio, core: coating ratio and inlet air temperature were: 9:1, 1:6 and 140 °C, respectively; with
the predictive values of 87.8% for encapsulation efficiency and 103.55 mg GAE/g micro for TPC.
