where, MR, Mo, Me, Mt and Mt+dt are the moisture ratio, initial moisture content, equilibrium moisture content, moisture
content at t and moisture content at t + dt (kg moisture/kg dry matter), respectively, t is drying time (min). The air-drying
curves were fitted with different mathematical models as given in Table 1. The regression analysis was performed using the
computer program. Non-linear regression, which used to evaluate goodness of fit of the mathematical models to the
experimental data are coefficient of determination (R2) and the reduced chi-square ( ), was used for data analysis. The
higher value for R2 and the lower values for _2 and root mean square error analysis (RMSE) indicate the better fitness of
model. These parameters were calculated as follows: