Dados do Trabalho

Título

CHARACTERIZATION OF MODIFIED STARCHES ISOLATED FROM NEW SWEET POTATO (IPOMOEA BATATAS) GENOTYPES FOR POTENTIAL APPLICATION IN PICKERING EMULSIONS

Introdução

Starch, a natural biopolymer composed of amylose and amylopectin, is widely used as a thickener and gelling agent. Recent studies emphasize the importance of modifying the structural of native starches to improve solubility, gel formation, and viscosity stability. Modified starches have been applied in the production of Pickering emulsions, where immiscible phases are stabilized by solid particles. Starch offers advantages due to its non-allergenicity, low cost, and abundance compared to commercial surfactants. The study aimed to isolate, modify, and physicochemically and morphologically characterize starches from two new sweet potato genotypes for application in Pickering emulsions.

Material e Métodos

Starches were obtained from white-skinned and yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes (PS-YF) and pink-skinned and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (PS-OF). Starch extraction was performed by the decantation process. After starch modification using the nanoprecipitation process, Pickering emulsions were prepared in a 20:80 ratio (soybean oil: water) with 4% (w/w) of native or modified starch. The particles were characterized for their physicochemical and morphological properties.

Resultados e Discussão

PS-YF and PS-OF starches exhibited low amylose content of 17.46 ± 0.07% and 16.98 ± 0.08%, respectively, and different crystalline structures (type-A for PS-YF and type-C for PS-OF), while the modified starches had type-V6h crystallinity. After modification, there was an increase in oil and water absorption capacity for both genotypes: PS-YF (WAC of 9.77 ± 3.46 and OAC 20.52 ± 1.14); PS-OF (WAC of 20.18 ± 4.08 and OAC 15.45 ± 0.04). The modified PS-OF starch stabilized the system for 30 days, whereas modified PS-YF starch showed a CI of 68.79% after 27 days of observation.

Conclusão

The results highlight that starch modification allowed improvements in physicochemical properties, resulting in emulsion stability. Modified starches were effective in stabilizing emulsions, suggesting their potential use as ingredients in food products.