Study On The Extraction And Utilization Of Okra Pods Polysaccharide

Okra(Abelmoschus esculentus L.) belongs to the Malvaceae, annual herb. Their fresh pods, flowers and tender leaves can be eaten as vegetables, especially their pods not only have plenty of nutrients, but also contain a variety of functional ingredients that are beneficial to human health. Therefore their plantations are almost around the world. In recent years, most parts of China have begun to plant the okra in large-scale. As the multi-purpose plant resources that are developed as food as well as drug in the 21 st century, their development and prospects are promising.Okra pods are rich in mucilage gum, the main ingredient is polysaccharide. This experiment takes fresh okra pods as raw materials, using ultrasound-assisted and UHP-assisted extraction methods to research the extraction technology of polysaccharide in okra pods, and using response surface method to optimizing extraction conditions to obtain a better process parameter. Then purify and analyze the crude polysaccharide to obtain the information of the monosaccharide composition and molecular weight polysaccharides of okra. Finally using polysaccharides extracted by okra pods to make jelly gel products, and explore its features.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:1. Optimization experiments of extracting polysaccharides in okra pods by ultrasound-assisted. The results show that: the best ultrasonic extraction conditions that obtain the maximum rate are as follows: ultrasonic temperature is 63 ?, ultrasonic time is 10 min and liquid-solid ratio is 47: 1(mL: g), the forecast yield is 6.43523%, the verified yield is 6.375 %. The purity of polysaccharide is 87.58% and the protein impurities are 8.89%.2. Optimization experiments of extracting polysaccharides in okra pods by UHP-assisted. The results show that: the best pressure extraction conditions that obtain the maximum rate are as follows: the UHP pressure is 400 MPa, UHP action time is 6 min and liquid-solid ratio is 55: 1(mL: g), the forecast yield is 7.32358%, the verified yield is 7.15%. The purity of polysaccharide is 89.75% and the protein impurities are 5.92%.3. Analyzing the monosaccharide composition of polysaccharide using gas chromatography (GC). The three different extraction methods: ultrasound, high pressure and conventional method get the result that the monosaccharide composition of polysaccharide is basically the same which indicating that the monosaccharide composition of polysaccharide is not damaged by the high pressure and ultrasonic.4. Analyzing the molecular weight of the polysaccharide by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). By comparing and analyzing the three different extraction methods of ultrasound, high pressure and traditional method, we discover that the average molecular weight of polysaccharides are more than 500,000 and they are macromolecules. Thus it's proves that the macromolecules constitute of polysaccharide is not damaged by the high pressure and ultrasonic.5. Jelly gel experiments. Take the crude polysaccharides extracted as the thickener to make jelly gel products, it's proves that okra polysaccharides can alter the textural properties significantly and plays an important role in enhancing the viscosity and elasticity of the products.