A significant amount of cashew nut testa is removed during the processing of cashew kernels, resulting in many negative environmental impacts. The objective of this study was to valorize the cashew nut testa by enzymatic-assisted extraction of polyphenol using a mixture of cellulase and pectinase. A central composite design was employed to analyze the effects of extraction temperature from 41.6°C to 58.4°C, extraction pH from pH 3.2 to pH 4.8, and enzyme concentration from 0.03% to 0.37% (v/w) on extraction efficiency. A second-order response surface model was constructed to elucidate the effects of these independent variables on the response values of total phenolic content (TPC) and free radical scavenging activities [2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azinobis-3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) assays]. Regression analysis results showed that 91%, 88%, and 92% variations of the response variables of TPC, DPPH and ABTS scavenging activities can be explained by the models, respectively. Under optimal conditions, the predicted value for TPC was 164.26 (mg GAE/g DW), and the free radical scavenging activities according to DPPH and ABTS assays were 936.52 (µmol TE/g DW) and 1591.47 (µmol TE/g DW), respectively. The experimental results were consistent with the predicted values, demonstrating the suitability of the quadratic model and the success of the response surface method for optimizing the polyphenol extraction from cashew nut testa by using the enzyme mixture.
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