Based on ANOVA, both fruit maturity and extraction method had significant influence on the yield of pectin as expected. The pectin yield obtained from MHF (3.64%) was significantly higher than that obtained from EHF (1.52%). This was consistent with the soluble NSP data which shows a higher amount of soluble-NSP in MHF (∼3.5% w/w) than in EHF (∼2.5% w/w). In EHF, the pectin appeared to be strongly bound to the insoluble cellulose and hemicellulose fractions.
Comparison of the extraction methods showed that the highest pectin yield was obtained by enzymatic extraction (2.14% w/w), suggesting that the pectin fraction in EHF was bound to the cellulose and hemicellulose of the cell wall. The enzyme, Celluclast 1.5L, hydrolyzed and disrupted the cellulose network, facilitating pectin release. The results are in agreement with some earlier studies (Panouille et al., 2006 and Ptitchkina et al., 2008) in that the amount of pectin recovered by enzymes was high compared with the acid extraction method. Based on the above data, the enzymatic-extraction method gave the highest pectin yield for both fruit maturities of gold kiwifruit.