Dados do Trabalho

Título

INFLUENCE OF PARTICLE SIZE ON THE RECOVERY OF ANTIOXIDANT COMPOUNDS FROM ANNATTO BARK USING DIFFERENT EXTRACTION PROCESSES

Introdução

The annatto production chain (Bixa orellana L.) presents itself as an important generator of waste, both in the processing stages of the fruit (barks, also called cachopa) and in the processing of seeds. Although annatto seeds have been extensively studied for pigments and other compounds (carotenoids, tocols and terpenoids) associated with important bioactive properties (antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory), in the literature there are few studies focused on their residues, like cachopas.

Material e Métodos

In this study, the yield of cachopa in relation to the fruit and the influence of the particle size of annatto cachopa flour on the recovery of bioactive compounds and antioxidant potential of extracts obtained by different processes were evaluated: decoction (D), infusion of hot (Ih) and cold (Ic).

Resultados e Discussão

The cachopa flour (CF) was classified into two fractions using a domestic sieve: coarse fraction (CFc) the flour retained between mesh sieves nº 7 to 16, with particles between 1 and 2.83 mm; and fine fraction (CFf) the flour between mesh sieves nº 24 to 270, varying between 0.05 and 0.71 mm. The annatto cachopa represented around 45% of the total mass of the fruit and the analysis of the extracts obtained showed significant differences between the fractions and the applied processes.

Conclusão

Among the processes, the best performance was from the decoction applied to CFf-D, which resulted in extracts with increases of 148% and 115% for total phenolics and flavonoids, respectively, compared to CF-D flour. A similar trend was observed for antioxidant potential, in which the extract obtained by decoction for CFf-D showed values 56%, 33% and 77% higher in its ABTS- and DPPH- radicals scavenging, and in Ferric Reduction Antioxidant Power (FRAP), respectively, compared to cachopa flour (CF). However, a reduction in the levels of bioactive compounds was observed when the cachopa flour extracts were compared to those obtained with CFc-D. These observations showed that cachopa is a potential source of bioactive compounds with antioxidant potential, as well as the importance of reducing particle size for more efficient recovery of the compounds of interest.