Abstract
Pectic oligosaccharides (POS) have been proposed as a potential source of prebiotics
capable of exerting a number of health-promoting effects. POS can be obtained by
depolymerization of suitable raw materials or purified pectins by partial enzymatic hydrolysis,
hydrothermal processing dynamic high-pressure microfluidization or photochemical reaction in
media containing This research aimed to study feasibility of pectic oligosaccharide production from
pectin extracted in dragon fruit peel and their prebiotics property.
Dragon fruit’s peel was extracted with deionized water (solid to water ratio 1:2). The
extraction time was 6 hrs which giving the maximum yield (based on total solid) of 29.5%. The
optimal condition of pectic oligosaccharide reaction were pH of 4 and 50 oC which gave reducing
sugar of 3.54 mg/ml and. The chemical composition analyzed by HPLC confirmed that pectic
oligosaccharide consisted of mono galacturonic acid, di galacturonic acid and tri galacturonic acid.
Particularly, tri galacturonic acid has potential use as prebiotic. The result also showed that pectic
oligosaccharides could promote the growth of probiotic (Lactobacillus plantarum) which confirmed
their prebiotic property.
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