## 4 Discussion  
Drying is one of the most used methods for preserving fruits and vegetables. However, the parameters of this process significantly affect the chemical composition. The key is to choose such drying parameters to obtain a product with low moisture content and, at the same time, minimize the loss of nutrients and bioactive ingredients. Drying at 40 \({}^{\circ}\)C, 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C and 80 \({}^{\circ}\)C was performed in this study. At the highest temperature, the lowest content of protein, fat, ash, crude fiber, NDF and ADF fractions was observed. Looking at the basic composition of pumpkins, the most optimal temperature seems to be 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C. It maintains a high nutrient content, and at the same time, the drying time is shorter than in the case of lower temperatures. A similar conclusion was obtained from a study by [PERSON] et al. (2011), which assessed that drying pumpkin at 70 \({}^{\circ}\)C allows the process to be completed much faster than in the case of 30 \({}^{\circ}\)C, and changes in the basic composition are insignificant [14]. However, pumpkin is also a source of bioactive ingredients sensitive to high temperatures. That is especially true for double chemical bonds in the chemical structure, e.g., carotenoids and unsaturated fatty acids [26]. Inadequate raw pumpkin-based material processing can lose significant amounts of biologically active ingredients. The degradation and structural modification of carotenoids occurs during thermal treatments such as cooking [27,28] and hot drying [29]. [PERSON] et al. (2013) found that drying pumpkin at 70 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 8-10 h caused a maximum loss of 9-13% for \(\alpha\)- and \(\beta\)-carotene [29]. On the other hand, [PERSON] et al. (2006) found that the total \(\beta\)-carotene in pumpkin pure was reduced by 26% and 62% after heating at 70 \({}^{\circ}\)C and 100 \({}^{\circ}\)C, respectively, for 2 h compared to fresh samples. This study showed that the \(\beta\)-carotene content of pumpkin dried at 80 \({}^{\circ}\)C was 13% lower than at 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C and 20% lower than at 40 \({}^{\circ}\)C. For \(\alpha\)-carotene, it was 13% in both cases [30]. [PERSON] et al. (2022) obtained similar results. Drying at 80 \({}^{\circ}\)C led to a 14% decrease in the content of \(\beta\)-carotene and 16% of \(\alpha\)-carotene \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Fatty Acids** & **40 \({}^{\circ}\)C** & **60 \({}^{\circ}\)C** & **80 \({}^{\circ}\)C** & **_p_-Value** & **SE** \\ \hline Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) & 22.26 & 20.14 & 21.04 & 0.1111 & 0.6797 \\ Monoussaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) & 18.97 A & 19.16 A & 18.31 B & 0.0010 & 0.1414 \\ Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) & 58.59 & 60.49 & 60.45 & 0.0877 & 0.6566 \\ C10:0 & 0.0062 & 0.0059 & 0.0066 & 0.6471 & 0.00047 \\ C12:0 & 0.044 & 0.04 & 0.046 & 0.1284 & 0.0019 \\ C14:0 & 0.394 & 0.367 & 0.405 & 0.0575 & 0.0106 \\ C14:1 & 0.0285 A & 0.0087 B & 0.0117 B & 0.0069 & 0.0042 \\ C15:0 & 0.0511 & 0.0425 & 0.0448 & 0.1141 & 0.0028 \\ C16:0 & 15.97 & 14.36 & 15.2 & 0.0694 & 0.4597 \\ C16:In-9 & 0.028 A & 0.046 B & 0.043 B & 0.0049 & 0.0035 \\ C16:In-7 & 0.2373 A & 0.1751 B & 0.1983 C & 0.0000 & 0.0041 \\ C17:0 & 0.0856 & 0.0796 & 0.0826 & 0.4659 & 0.0033 \\ C17:1 & 0.0204 & 0.026 & 0.0253 & 0.3676 & 0.003 \\ C18:0 & 5.047 & 4.692 & 4.698 & 0.3318 & 0.1883 \\ C18:In-9 & 16.279 A & 16.954 B & 16.206 C & 0.0012 & 0.1338 \\ C18:In-7 & 2.273 A & 1.867 B & 1.728 C & 0.0000 & 0.0428 \\ C18:In-6 & 54.45 & 56.19 & 55.01 & 0.1260 & 0.5873 \\ C18:3n-3 & 3.91 B & 4.22 B & 5.2 A & 0.0000 & 0.1517 \\ C20:0 & 0.319 & 0.314 & 0.32 & 0.9599 & 0.0164 \\ C20:1 & 0.107 & 0.086 & 0.107 & 0.3169 & 0.0108 \\ C20:2 & 0.215 A & 0.07 B & 0.21 A & 0.0089 & 0.0336 \\ C20:3n-6 & 0.016 A & 0.014 A & 0.026 B & 0.0184 & 0.0029 \\ C20:4n-6 & 0.0048 A & 0.0057 A & 0.0102 B & 0.03 & 0.0014 \\ C22:0 & 0.1962 & 0.175 & 0.1593 & 0.152 & 0.0129 \\ C24:0 & 0.1518 A & 0.0631 B & 0.0771 B & 0.004 & 0.139 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}