Abstract
Fructans were extracted from Agave salmiana juice, characterized and subjected to hydrolysis process using a commercial inulinase preparation acting freely. To compare the performance of the enzymatic preparation, a batch of experiments were also conducted with chicory inulin (reference). Hydrolysis was performed for 6 h at two temperatures (50, 60°C) and two substrate concentrations (40, 60 mg/ml). Hydrolysis process was monitored by measuring the sugars released and residual substrate by HPLC. A mathematical model which describes the kinetics of substrate degradation as well as fructose production was proposed to analyze the hydrolysis assessment. It was found that kinetics were significantly influenced by temperature, substrate concentration, and type of substrate (P < 0.01). The extent of substrate hydrolysis varied from 82 to 99%. Hydrolysis product was mainly constituted of fructose, obtaining from 77 to 96.4% of total reducing sugars.
Highlights
The term fructans is a generic name assigned to polymers of fructose linked by fructose-fructose glycosidic bonds
If polymer is composed by 2 to 10 fructose molecules, these are known as fructooligosaccharides (FOSs), whereas a properly named fructan is a polysaccharide with a degree of polymerization (DP) greater than 10 molecules of fructose in the chain [1, 2]
It can clearly be seen that the molecular mass distribution of Agave fructan comprised oligomers and polymers of molecular weight ranging from 342.8 to 3587.2 Da, which corresponds to a range of DP from 1 to 21
Summary
The term fructans is a generic name assigned to polymers of fructose linked by fructose-fructose glycosidic bonds. The inulintype fructan, extracted from chicory (Cichorium intybus), artichoke (Cynara scolymus), and dahlia plant tubercles (Dahlia variabilis) has been the most commonly compound used in the food industry due to their functional properties as well as their health benefits. They are nondigestible polysaccharides, considered as prebiotics, since they stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial colon bacteria such as Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus [5,6,7]. Fructans possess several properties as texture modification, gel formation, moisture retention, and food stabilization, and they are frequently employed as fat and sugar substitutes [10,11,12,13]
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