Abstr act The s tudy was a imed at assessing the quali ty
of pumpkin (Cucur ibita Spp.) slices that were subjected
to p r e- dr yi ng tre a t me n t s a nd drying using t wo drying
methods (uncontrolled sun an d ove n) fruit accessions.
Pre- drying had signi ficant ( P ≤ 0.05) e ffect on the quali ty
of dried pumpkin slices. 10 % salt solution dipped
pumpkin fruit slices had good chemical q uality. T he
two-way i nte r actio n b etween dry i ng m ethod s an d p r e-drying treatments h ad significant ( P ≤ 0.05) e ff ect on
chemical qualities. Pumpkin subject ed to salt solution
dipping t reatment and oven d ried had h igher c hemical
concentrat ions. Among the pumpk in frui t a cc es sions,
pumpk in accession 8007 h a d t he supe rio r TSS, total
sugar a nd sugar t o acid ratio after d rying. Among the
thr ee pr e -dryi ng treatm ent, s alt s olution d ipping treat-ment had s ignificant ( P ≤ 0. 05) eff ect a nd the most eff i-cient pre-drying treatment to retain t h e q ual ity of dried
pumpkin f ruits without sign if icant c he mical quality dete-rioration. Salt dipping t reatment combined with low
tempe rature ( 60 °C) oven a ir circulation drying i s
recommende d t o m ain ta in q uality o f drie d pumpkin
slices. However, s ince direct sun d rying needs e xt ended
drying time d ue t o f luctuation in te mp erature, i t i s
recommended t o develop or select be st successful solar
dryer f or us e i n c ombination with pr e-drying salt dipping
or bl anching t reatment s.