Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the influence of extraction conditions i.e.
water:fronds ratio (0.5:1 – 12:1), temperature (25 – 90˚C) and pH (3 – 11) on extraction
yield, crude protein content and emulsifying capacity of mucilage from Talinum
paniculatum fronds. Response surface methodology with a face cantered-central
composite design was applied to optimize the extraction conditions. With 20
experimental runs, extraction yield, crude protein content and emulsifying capacity of
the mucilage were recorded to be 2.32 – 4.90%, 15.05 – 30.97% and 8.05 – 37.93%,
respectively. Response surface analyses showed that increases in mucilage yield were
mainly due to significant (p < 0.05) quadratic effect of pH and also synergistic effect
between water:fronds ratio and pH. In contrast, significant (p < 0.05) quadratic effect
of temperature and its synergistic effect with water:fronds ratio led to increase in
emulsifying capacity of the mucilage. Furthermore, linear effect of pH seemed to
significantly (p < 0.05) increase the crude protein content, in addition to significant (p
< 0.05) synergistic effect between water:fronds ratio and pH. Experimental data for
each response were best fitted with a quadratic model, having high coefficients of
determination (R2 = 0.81 – 0.98) and no lack-of-fit. The optimum conditions for
mucilage extraction from T. paniculatum were obtained at water:fronds ratio of 8.4:1,
temperature of 90 ⁰C and pH of 8, providing 3.44 % yield, 29.35 % crude protein
content and 34.00 % emulsifying capacity of T. paniculatum mucilage.
