PREPARATION OF PLANT MUCILAGE CLARIFICANTS AND THEIR EFFECT ON JAGGERY PROCESSING OF SUGARCANE VARIETY Co 86032

Objective: The aim of the study was to prepare jaggery from sugarcane variety Co86032 using plants mucilage as clarificants and to determine the effect of plant mucilage on jaggery processing.Methods: Production of jaggery using five plant clarificants namely Aloe vera, Flax seeds, Fenugreek, Purslane and Malabar spinach at three different concentrations i.e., 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.4% of raw sugarcane juice and the jaggery prepared without any clarificants serves as control. During production, the processing parameters such as quantity of scum removed, total time taken for processing and jaggery yield was determined.Results: It was found that the jaggery prepared using plant mucilage at concentration of 0.4% found superior when compared to 0.2%, 0.1% and control respectively. Aloe vera at 0.4% removed maximum scum (4.07%), taken minimum processing time (72.33 min) and recorded maximum jaggery yield (10.92 kg). The efficacy of Aloe vera as mucilage clarificants in jaggery production was followed by fenugreek, flax seeds, purslane and Malabar spinach in the order respectively.Conclusion: The application of plants mucilage as clarificants in the jaggery production removed significant level of scum, reduced processing time and improved yield of jaggery. Therefore the selected plant mucilages can be used as clarificants in the jaggery production and can be considered as potential alternative to chemical clarificants.Â

EVALUATION OF BIOACTIVITY OF JAGGERY PREPARED USING PLANT MUCILAGE AS CLARIFICANT

Objective: The aim of the study was to prepare the jaggery using plant mucilage as clarificants and to evaluate the bioactivity of jaggery by determining total phenols, total flavonoids, reducing power, antibacterial activity, and antihelmintic activity.Methods: Jaggery was prepared from sugarcane variety Co-80632 using five plant mucilage as clarificants, namely Aloe vera, flax seeds, fenugreek, purslane, and malabar spinach at three different concentrations, i.e., 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.4% of raw sugarcane juice. The characteristic bioactivities such as total phenol content by Folin–Ciocalteu method, flavonoids content by spectrophotometer method, reducing power assay by measuring the absorbance at 700 nm, antibacterial activity by well-diffusion method, and antihelmintic activity by in vitro were determined.Results: The highest total phenolic content was observed in jaggery prepared using plant mucilage clarificant of A. vera (JAV4 [3.68±0.02]) and Fenugreek seeds (JFG4 [3.61±0.02]) at 0.4% followed by them at 0.2% and 0.1% concentration, respectively. Similarly, a significant amount of total flavonoids content was elevated only in 0.4% plant mucilage clarificants of Aloe vera-treated experimental group jaggery (0.73±0.01) compared to control (0.61±0.02). Further, the antioxidant activity of jaggery was evaluated by reducing power. The increased absorbance at 700 nm indicated the presence of reducing power. At 10 mg/ml concentration, an absorbance unit of 1.93 and 1.80 was observed for jaggery prepared using 0.4% concentration of A. vera and fenugreek seed mucilage clarificants. Antihelmintic activity of jaggery showed dosage depended on the pattern where with the increase in the concentration of mucilage, the antihelmintic activity enhanced. A. vera mucilage showed maximum antihelmintic activity at 0.4% concentration with paralytic time (28.6 min) and death time (39.6 min).Conclusion: Jaggery prepared using plants mucilaginous clarificants is the richest source of polyphenols such as phenolic acids and flavonoids, thereby contributed to the enhancement of bioactivity such as antioxidant, antibacterial, and antihelmintic activity. Thus, jaggery prepared using plant mucilage as clarificants is a novel nutraceutical product which can supplement the nutrients along with various medicinal properties through antioxidant, antibacterial, and antihelmintic activity