EXTRACTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MUCILAGE FROM WILD SPECIES OF OPUNTIA

摘要

The aim of this work was to characterize the mucilage extracted from six speciesrnof Opuntia. The species studied were as follows: O. atropes, O. tomentosa,rnO. hyptiacantha, O. streptacantha y O. joconostle and O. ficus-indica. The first steprnwas to find the best extraction conditions to obtain an unaltered chemicalrnstructure of mucilage. The mucilages were characterized using high-performancernliquid chromatography and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy techniques.rnThe optimal conditions employed to obtain the mucilage were: ratio ofrncladodes : ethanol solution at 50% of 1:1 (w/v), temperature of 22C and precipitationrnof mucilage with a solution of ethanol 96%, at a ratio of 1:4 (v/v). Mucilagernfrom all species studied had a high content of soluble dietary fiber, ranging fromrn51.79 to 67.51%. In decreasing order, sugars found in the mucilages were:rnL-arabinose (26.83–35.36%), D-galactose (21.59–45.48%), D-xylose (12.23–rn17.05%), uronic acids (5.59–13.91%), D-glucose (5.18–16.21%) and L-rhamnosern(1.41–5.40%).