All the experiments were carried out in batch mode (2.0 kg) by uniformly spreading the single layer of slices on the conveyor and maintaining the drying chamber temperature at 80 ± 2 ◦C. During hybrid mode drying, the hot air was pre-heated to 40 ± 2 ◦C and supplied to the drying chamber. For hot air (80 ± 2 ◦C) drying, the same unit was used without IR heating. The velocity of air was maintained at 1.4 m/s for both hot air and IR assisted hot air drying mode. Samples were drawn at regular intervals to measure the moisture content. The slices were dried to a moisture content of 7–8% (w.b.).