Tannin Content of the Bark and Branch of Caatinga Species

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the concentration of tannins in the bark and in the branches of ten species of Caatinga occurrence. The Folin-Denis colorimetric method was used to determine the phenol content and the tannins are precipitated using a protein. The tannin content was obtained by the difference between the supernatant and the non-tannic phenol content. The data were subjected to the Shapiro-Wilk normality’s test and after, to Analysis of Variance using a 2x10 factorial design and Turkey’s test was used to detect differences. For bark sample, the species Parapiptadenia zehntneri, Parapiptadenia rigida and Libidibia ferrea presented the three highest percentages among the studied species, being 10.84%, 10.74% and 10.27%, respectively. For branch sample, Aspidosperma pyrifolium presented the highest percentage of tannins among the ten species, with 9.15% of these substances. It is possible to suggest the use of other parts of the tree to extract the tannins, such as the branches and their bark, offering an alternative for the extraction that is usually made from the main trunk and providing sustainability to the Caatinga.