eng Enviro Research Publishers Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science Journal 2347-467X 2322-0007 2026-08-06 14 2 26627 article Saurabh Bhatia 2 Talha Shireen Khan 1 Yasir Abbas Shah 1 Ahmed Al-Harrasi 1 Natural and Medical Sciences Research Center, University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Oman School of Health Science, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India In this study, chitosan and soy protein acid hydrolysate biocomposite films loaded with marjoram essential oil were developed using the solvent-casting method. The film-forming solutions were subjected to four different drying conditions such as sun, vacuum, room temperature, and hot air oven drying. The effects of these drying conditions on the structural, thermal, mechanical, and antioxidant properties were evaluated. The SEM analysis revealed that the vacuum-dried and hot air oven-dried films showed smooth, dense, and uniform morphology. The tensile strength ranged from 8.36 MPa to 15.73 MPa with the highest tensile strength observed for hot-air oven-dried films. The water contact angle ranged from 42.97° to 44.99° that indicates that all the film samples remained hydrophilic. The water vapor transmission rate ranged from 256.4 to 301.5 g/m²/day, while the water vapor permeability ranged from 4.58 × 10⁻⁴ to 8.25 × 10⁻⁴ g·mm/m²·h·kPa. The vacuum dried sample showed the highest haze value of 82.74%,light transmittance value of 79.07%., and elongation at break (110.34%). The XRD analysis showed that all the film samples showed broad diffraction peaks around 2θ ≈ 20–21°. This shows their semi-crystalline nature with dominant amorphous regions. The hot-air oven-dried film showed highest crystallinity of 41.6% while the room temperature-dried film showed the lowest crystallinity of 24.6%. All the samples demonstrated strong ABTS radical scavenging activity from 50.70% to 56.30% and the DPPH radical scavenging activity ranged from 27.25% to 30.78%. The room-temperature dried film showed the highest ABTS activity whereas the vacuum-dried film showed the highest DPPH activity. However, the DPPH values were not significantly different among the samples.These findings highlight drying condition as a crucial processing parameter in developing sustainable food packaging materials. https://www.foodandnutritionjournal.org/volume14number2/influence-of-different-drying-conditions-on-the-physicochemical-properties-of-chitosan-soy-protein-acid-hydrolysate-biocomposite-films-loaded-with-marjoram-oil-for-food-packaging-applications/ Antioxidant Biopolymer Drying Essential Oil Food packaging