Water retention capacity (WRC) is the amount of water retained
by a known weight of fiber under the condition used (Robertson,
1998). The method of (Lin and Zayas, 1987) was used for its
determination. Samples (2.5 g) were weighed in a 100 mL beaker,
and water or 0.05, 0.25, 0.75 M NaCl salt solutions was added slowly
to form a paste. Next additional solvent was added until 40 mL and
the solution was mixed with a magnetic stirrer. During the preparation,
the pH of the solution was adjusted with HCl (0.1 M) or NaOH
(0.1 M) each 5 min. Next, the suspension was stirred for 1 h. The
weight was adjusted with the solvent at 50 g. The solutions were
let to rest during 24 h and next they were filtered. The pellet was
weighed (P1), dried at 102 C overnight, and the dry weigh was
determined (P2). WRC (g/g DM) was calculated by: