Articles
From cactus to feed: investigating freeze-dried Opuntia ficus-indica cladode components as potential livestock feed supplement
Article number
1466_19
Pages
147 – 156
Language
English
Abstract
Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill is a well-known plant species with various applications across industries globally.
The fruits have established markets backed by tangible scientific evidence.
On the contrary, cladodes are the underutilized and overlooked parts of O. ficus-indica yet comprising significant nutrition that could be of benefit in livestock, especially in drought-vulnerable arid regions.
The current study aims at assessing biological, hydration and functional group properties of freeze-dried powders produced from cladode tissues (peel, mucilage and insoluble fibre) of O. ficus-indica. Antioxidant activities revealed significantly higher (p<0.05) antiradical properties of the peel against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2, 2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS.+), greater than that of mucilage and insoluble fibre.
The peel revealed ABTS.+ scavenging activity of approximately 83% while mucilage and insoluble fibre had 42 and 16% antiradical activities, respectively.
A similar trend was observed against DPPH, where superior antiradical property was demonstrated by the peel (54.6%), followed by the mucilage (29.8%) and insoluble fibre (25.2%). With water solubility, mucilage significantly (p<0.05) expressed the highest dissolution of 48.3% compared to peel and insoluble fibre, which dissolved by proportions of 16.6 and 6.6%, respectively.
However, the mucilage demonstrated weak powder stability with hygroscopicity of 83 g 100 g‑1, while peel and insoluble fibre showed hygroscopic nature of 40.8 and 37.9 g 100 g‑1, respectively.
Functional groups (OH, CH, C=C and C-O stretching) mostly appeared in all extracts at varying peak shapes and intensities.
The ATR-FTIR spectra revealed that the peel contained the observed functional groups at higher intensities than other tested samples.
Conclusively, the study suggests the peel as a good source of antioxidant properties, while mucilage can be a great source of soluble polysaccharides known to drive efficient solubility of feed material in livestock gut systems.
The fruits have established markets backed by tangible scientific evidence.
On the contrary, cladodes are the underutilized and overlooked parts of O. ficus-indica yet comprising significant nutrition that could be of benefit in livestock, especially in drought-vulnerable arid regions.
The current study aims at assessing biological, hydration and functional group properties of freeze-dried powders produced from cladode tissues (peel, mucilage and insoluble fibre) of O. ficus-indica. Antioxidant activities revealed significantly higher (p<0.05) antiradical properties of the peel against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2, 2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS.+), greater than that of mucilage and insoluble fibre.
The peel revealed ABTS.+ scavenging activity of approximately 83% while mucilage and insoluble fibre had 42 and 16% antiradical activities, respectively.
A similar trend was observed against DPPH, where superior antiradical property was demonstrated by the peel (54.6%), followed by the mucilage (29.8%) and insoluble fibre (25.2%). With water solubility, mucilage significantly (p<0.05) expressed the highest dissolution of 48.3% compared to peel and insoluble fibre, which dissolved by proportions of 16.6 and 6.6%, respectively.
However, the mucilage demonstrated weak powder stability with hygroscopicity of 83 g 100 g‑1, while peel and insoluble fibre showed hygroscopic nature of 40.8 and 37.9 g 100 g‑1, respectively.
Functional groups (OH, CH, C=C and C-O stretching) mostly appeared in all extracts at varying peak shapes and intensities.
The ATR-FTIR spectra revealed that the peel contained the observed functional groups at higher intensities than other tested samples.
Conclusively, the study suggests the peel as a good source of antioxidant properties, while mucilage can be a great source of soluble polysaccharides known to drive efficient solubility of feed material in livestock gut systems.
Publication
Authors
S. Tonisi, T. Kaseke, N.A. Masondo, O.A. Fawole
Keywords
antioxidants, alternative feed source, cladode components, drought, hydration
Online Articles (74)