MSCPNT / Department of Food Science and Technology / The study aimed to determine the physicochemical properties, extract and characterise pectin from three varieties (green, purple and orange) of prickly pear (Opuntia spp) fruit peel. Research samples were collected from Bothlokwa Mphakane village in Limpopo province of South Africa. The experimental design for this study was randomized complete block design and each treatment was conducted in triplicate. Pectin was extracted using sulphuric acid at four different pH levels (1, 2, 3 & 4) and microwave power levels (low, medium & high). The characterisation of extracted pectin was done by calculating the ash, moisture, equivalent weight, anhydrouronic acid, methoxyl content, and degree of esterification. Functional groups present in extracted and commercial pectin were investigated for similarities using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The yield of pectin for purple ranged from 2.9% to 13.8%, orange from 1.4% to 9.8% and from 2.3% to 10.0% for green prickly pear peel. A decrease in pH resulted in an increased pectin yield and an increase in microwave power level increased the pectin yield. Maximum yields of 13.8% on purple, 10.0% on green and 9.8% on orange were obtained at pH 1.0 and medium power level. The best condition for extraction using sulphuric acid was at a medium power level and pH 1.0. The pectins obtained were compared against each other in terms of yield, physicochemical characteristics and chemical structure. The ash content of the extracted pectin was significantly higher at 25.16 ± 0.69, 34.26 ± 1.92 and 36.30 ± 1.07, however the pectin showed lower moisture content and equivalent weight. The methoxyl contents were 2.28 ± 0.26, 2.38 ± 0.21 and 3.86 ±0.31, anhydrouronic acid contents were 25.58 ± 2.03, 25.93 ± 2.35 and 38.84 ± 2.29, and degree of esterification were 49.87 ± 0.17, 50.63 ± 4.76 and 56.39 ± 1.60 across the orange, purple and green varieties, respectively. The prickly pear peel pectin spectra exhibited similarities in its absorption pattern to that of commercial citrus pectin. Therefore, the extraction of pectin from prickly pear peels is feasible in viewpoint of yield and quality, and that the pectin has potential for substitution of citrus pectin in the food processing industry. / NRF

Class of 2009 Abstract / OBJECTIVES: An estimated 26.3 million Americans have Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Currently six classes of agents are approved for the treatments of Type 2 DM. Problems with current options have led to searches for new medications and adjunctive therapy. Prickly pear (Opuntia species) has been traditionally used by Mexicans and Pima Indians for the treatment of DM. This is a retrospective analysis of data obtained from a randomized placebo-controlled prospective experiment in 28 Type 2 DM rodents (ZDF). There were 2 negative control groups which consisted of non-DM rodents and ZDFs; each receiving water. The positive control group consisted of ZDFs who received rosiglitazone 4.75 mg/kg/day. The treatment group consisted of ZDFs who received 5-10 mL/kg/dose of Opuntia ficus indica (Jugo De Nopal) liquid, given twice daily. Weight, blood glucose and platelet aggregation were recorded and analyzed. At baseline, there were no significant differences in weight or blood glucose among ZDF groups. The lean control rodents had significantly lower blood glucose compared to the ZDF rodents (p<0.001). Treatment with Jugo de Nopal resulted in a statistically significant reduction in blood glucose (p<0.001), with a mean decrease in blood glucose of 7%. All treatment groups demonstrated a significant weight gain, however, the prickly pear group had significantly less weight gain than the rosiglitazone group (p=0.028). CONCLUSIONS: There was not a significant difference among the treatment groups with regard to platelet responsiveness. Further studies are necessary to determine the efficacy of prickly pear as a blood glucose lowering agent.

Natural products and health foods have recently received a lot of attention both by health professionals and the common population for improving overall well-being, as well as in the prevention of diseases including cancer. In this line, all types of fruits and vegetables have been reevaluated and recognized as valuable sources of nutraceuticals. The great number of potentially active nutrients and their multifunctional properties make cactus pear (Opuntia spp.) fruits and cladodes perfect candidates for the production of health-promoting food and food supplements. Although traditionally appreciated for its pharmacological properties by the Native Americans, cactus pear is still hardly recognized because of insufficient scientific information. However, recent studies on Opuntia spp. have demonstrated cactus pear fruit and vegetative cladodes to be excellent candidates for the development of healthy food. Therefore, this review summarizes current knowledge on the chemical composition of Opuntia cacti with particular emphasis in its use as food and medicine.

The use of natural environmentally benign agents in the treatment of drinking water is rapidly gaining interest due to their inherently renewable character and low toxicity. We show that the common Mexican cactus produces a gum-like substance, cactus mucilage, which shows excellent flocculating abilities and is an economically viable alternative for low-income communities. Cactus mucilage is a neutral mixture of approximately 55 high-molecular weight sugar residues composed basically of arabinose, galactose, rhamnose, xylose, and galacturonic acid. We show how this natural product was characterized for its use as a flocculating agent. Our results show the mucilage efficiency for reducing arsenic and particulates from drinking water as determined by light scattering, Atomic Absorption and Hydride Generation-Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy. Flocculation studies proved the mucilage to be a much faster flocculating agent when compared to Al2(SO4)3 with the efficiency increasing with mucilage concentration. Jar tests revealed that lower concentrations of mucilage provided the optimal effectiveness for supernatant clarity, an important factor in determining the potability of water. Initial filter results with the mucilage embedded in a silica matrix prove the feasibility of applying this technology as a method for heavy metal removal. This project provides fundamental, quantitative insights into the necessary and minimum requirements for natural flocculating agents that are innovative, environmentally benign, and cost-effective.

La presente investigación aborda la estabilización del adobe a través de la utilización de mucílago de penca de tuna con el fin de mejorar sus propiedades físicas como material de construcción. En la actualidad, el adobe es unos de los materiales más usados en la elaboración de viviendas en la Sierra del Perú por ser económico y de fácil adquisición; no obstante, este material al entrar en contacto con el agua pierde resistencia y durabilidad. Por tal motivo, esta tesis tiene como objetivo diseñar una unidad de albañilería de adobe estabilizado con mucílago de penca de tuna con el fin de prolongar la vida útil de las viviendas populares. Para validar esta investigación se realizaron diversos ensayos, para el suelo ensayos preliminares, de campo y laboratorio, para el mucilago ensayos de densidad y viscosidad; las unidades de adobes estabilizados y convencionales se analizaron través de ensayos mecánicos y físicos con la finalidad de comparar sus resultados. Los resultados obtenidos reflejaron que la unidad estabilizada presenta mejores resultados que el adobe convencional, se identificó que las dos mejores dosificaciones D: 20.5% y D: 18.0 % obtuvieron en compresión 23.3 kg/cm2 y 25.2 kg/cm2, en flexión 17.62 kg/cm2 y 17.61 kg/cm2, en absorción 10.99% y 11.43%, en inmersión se clasificó con daños leves y en la prueba de chorro de agua con 4.89 mm y 5.31 mm de profundidad de penetración respectivamente. / This investigation presents the stabilization of the adobe thanks to the use of prickly pear mucilage to improve its physical properties as a building material. Nowadays, adobe is one of the most used materials in the elaboration of houses in the mountains of Perú because it is economical and easy to acquire; however, when this material comes into contact with water, it loses strength and durability. For this reason, this thesis aims to design a stabilized of adobe masonry stabilized with mucilage of prickly in order to prolong the life of popular homes. In order to validate this investigation, several tests were carried out, for the soil preliminary, field trials and laboratory tests, and for the mucilage of prickly pear leaves with density and viscosity tests; for the stabilized and conventional adobe units, they were analyzed through mechanical and physical tests in order to compare their results. The results obtained in each trial reflected that the unit incorporated with mucilage of prickly has better results than conventional adobe, it was possible to identify that the two best dosages D: 20.5% and D: 18.0% obtained in the compression 23.3 kg / cm2 and 25.2 kg / cm2, in flexion 17.62 kg / cm2 and 17.61 kg / cm2, in absorption 10.99% and 11.43%, in immersion it was classified with slight damages and in the water jet test with 4.89 mm and 5.31 mm of depth of penetration respectively. / Tesis

Throughout the past decade an increased amount of attention has been drawn to the water contamination problems that affect the world. As a result, a variety of purification methods targeted at communities in developing countries have surfaced and, although all have contributed to the effort of improving water quality, few have been accepted and sustained for long term usage. Case studies indicate that the most beneficial methods are those which use indigenous resources, as they are both abundant and readily accepted by the communities. In an attempt to make a contribution to the search for water purification methods that can serve in both developed and developing countries, two fractions of mucilage gum, a Gelling (GE) and a Non-Gelling (NE) Extract, were obtained from the Opuntia ficus-indica cactus and tested as a flocculating agent against sediment and bacteria suspended in surrogate ion-rich waters. Diatonic ions are known to influence both cell binding and mucilage properties, causing CaCl2 to be tested as a flocculating agent alone and in conjunction with mucilage. Column tests were utilized to determine the settling rates of contaminant removal from the waters and the precipitated flocs were then evaluated. In columns employing Kaolin as a model for sediment removal, settling rates as high as 13.2 cm/min were observed using GE versus a control (suspensions with no treatment) settling at 0.5 cm/min. B. cereus tests displayed flocculation initiation up to 10 minutes faster than columns treated with calcium chloride (CaCl2) when using less than 10 ppm (GE) and 5 ppm (NE) of mucilage in addition to CaCl2. B. cereus removal rates between 95 and 98% have been observed in high concentration tests (> 108 cells/mL). Tests on E. coli flocculation differed slightly from those seen using B. cereus with control columns requiring 5 to 10 minutes longer to begin flocculation and mucilage treated columns displaying signs of flocculation much earlier. Mucilage is an ideal material for water purification and contaminant flocculation because it grows abundantly, is inexpensive and offers communities a sustainable technology.

Opuntia species have been poorly studied ecologically and taxonomically in the eastern United States. This study deals with the ecology of Opuntia species in the mid-south United States and covers not only the high degree of morphological variation exhibited by taxa, but also the taxonomy and distributions of the group for Mississippi. The taxa in the mid-south have distinct habitat preferences and can be separated based on habitat characterization. Information from this work provides valuable data useful in predicting possible routes that an invasive species, Cactoblastis cactorum (the cactus moth), might use in its potential westward migration. Phenotypic plasticity exhibited by Opuntia pusilla subjected to experimental conditions exemplifies the care that should be taken when making species delineations. Spine production in certain species is more a function of abiotic environmental pressures than genetic heritage. Two taxa that previously were put into synonymy with other species are recognized from this work.

This dissertation presents an evaluation of coprolite specimens from the Lower Pecos canyonlands as records of individual dietary decisions. Prior studies of coprolites from this region have greatly expanded our knowledge of Archaic subsistence patterns, but have not taken full advantage of the record of individual dietary decisions recorded in each coprolite specimen. The menu, or dietary combinations, reflected in individual coprolite specimens are assessed through the identification of several congruent botanical components derived from the same food resource, phytoliths, fiber ultimates, and epidermal sheets. The data is analyzed with hierarchical cluster analysis, an exploratory statistical technique. The resultant menus reflected in these clusters are evaluated with reference to the diet-breadth model developed for the known staple resources of the canyonlands as well as the seasonal subsistence patterns observed in the ethnohistoric record of modern-day Mexico and Texas. This same technique is also applied to the coprolite data available from previous studies in the Lower Pecos canyonlands. Overall, the combined dietary data available for the Lower Pecos canyonlands presents a similar dependence on desertic plant resources throughout the Archaic. Three main menus are apparent in the specimens. The first menu consists of prickly pear (Opuntia sp.) cladodes, or nopales, and was principally, although not exclusively, consumed in the late spring. This menu is primarily consumed when other resources were not readily available and may be considered a dependable but undesirable meal. The second menu consists of pit-baked lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla) and sotol (Dasylirion sp.) caudices, or hearts, common throughout the cool season. This menu entails high processing costs, but would provide a reliable caloric return. The third menu exhibits a monolithic reliance on prickly pear fruits, or tunas, during the summer. The ease of harvest and consumption is reflected in the seasonal dominance of this resource, which was assuredly a highly desirable meal. The dietary patterns recorded in the coprolite specimens from the Lower Pecos canyonlands demonstrate a seasonally variable diet-breadth that incorporated low-ranked resources during times of seasonal scarcity as well as a monolithic dependence on high-ranked resources when they were available in the local landscape.

Submitted by (edna.saturno@ufrpe.br) on 2016-07-26T13:50:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Janusa Iesa Lucena Alves Vasconcelos.pdf: 1281910 bytes, checksum: 5b66ce255384f53a57245b536ea3718f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-26T13:50:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Janusa Iesa Lucena Alves Vasconcelos.pdf: 1281910 bytes, checksum: 5b66ce255384f53a57245b536ea3718f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-25 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The prickly pear is a fruit of cactus, whose use in food dates back to pre-Columbian civilizations, as is typical of the Americas. Its chemical composition is rich in fiber, nutrients carbohydrates and , can develop an important role in the nutrition of populations at risk of food insecurity as well as additional source of income for small farmers. But these physical and chemical characteristics make it susceptible to microbial growth and post-harvest losses, requiring the development of conservation alternatives for increasing the shelf life of the product and its use in food. Dehydration is an effective method of food preservation, and the osmotic dehydration of those cases, the principle of which takes place in a food immersion in a hypertonic solution, reducing the content of free water, flows through mass transfer between fruit and the solution, maintaining nutritional and sensory characteristics very close to the product fresh. This work studied figs cloves osmotically dehydrated in fruit to syrup 1:10, with solutions (sucrose, sucrose + sodium chloride both commercial, and glucose PA), temperature (30 ° C, 34 ° C, 40 ° C, 46 ° C and 50 ° C), immersion time (90 ', 120', 165 ', 210' and 240 ') and concentration of osmotic solution (40 ° Brix, 44 ° Brix, 50 ° Brix, 56 ° Brix and 60 ° Brix), with the concentration of sodium chloride, fixed in 3%. The best results were obtained for sucrose at 46 ° C, 210 'and 56 ° Brix (FDI = 42.79), for sucrose, for sodium chloride at 30 ° C, 165' and 50 ° Brix (FDI = 95.59) glucose and 40 ° C, 90 min. E 50 ° Brix (FDI = 108.47%). Thus the agents used glucose was what was most effective, with the processing conditions of lower cost. Thus, the osmotic dehydration of prickly pear proved to be effective and efficient way to reduce moisture in the fruit, allowing the formulation of new products and enabling its use as a source of auxiliary income for family farmrs, the main producers of this cactus in Brazil. / O Figo da Índia é um fruto de cactácea, cujo uso na alimentação humana remonta as Civilizações Pré-colombianas, já que é típico das Américas. Sua composição centesimal é rica em fibras, macronutrientes e micronutrientes, podendo desenvolver um importante papel na nutrição de populações com riscos de insegurança alimentar; além de fonte de renda adicional para pequenos produtores. Porém estas características físico-químicas o tornam suscetível ao desenvolvimento microbiano e às perdas pós-colheita, exigindo o desenvolvimento de alternativas de conservação para aumentar a vida de prateleira do produto e seu uso na alimentação. A desidratação é um método eficaz de conservação de alimentos, sendo a desidratação osmótica um destes processos, cujo princípio se dá na imersão de um alimento em uma solução hipertônica, reduzindo o conteúdo de água livre deste, através de fluxos de transferência de massa entre o fruto e a solução; preservando características nutricionais e sensoriais bem próximas ao produto in natura. Este trabalho estudou figos-da-índia desidratados osmoticamente, em proporção fruto: xarope de 1:10, com soluções de (sacarose e sacarose+ cloreto de sódio comerciais e glicose PA), sob temperatura (30°C, 34°C, 40°C, 46°C e 50°C), tempo de imersão (90’, 120’, 165’, 210’ e 240’) e concentração da solução osmótica (40° Brix, 44° Brix, 50° Brix, 56° Brix e 60° Brix), com a concentração de cloreto de sódio fixa em 3%. Os melhores resultados obtido para sacarose foi a 46°C, 210’ e 56° Brix (IED=42,79); para sacarose mais cloreto de sódio a 30°C, 165’ e 50°Brix (IED=95,59) e para glicose 40 °C, 90 min. E 50 °Brix (IED=108,47%). Logo dos agentes utilizados, a glicose foi o que se mostrou mais eficaz, com as condições de processamento de menor custo. Assim, a desidratação osmótica do figo da índia mostrou-se eficaz e eficiente para redução de umidade neste fruto, propiciando a formulação de novos produtos e possibilitando seu uso como fonte de renda auxiliar para agricultura familiar, principais produtores desta cactácea no Brasil.

This work seeks to fabricate, optimize, and characterize nanofibers of cactus Opuntia ficus-indica mucilage and Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) by electrospinning. Mucilage is a neutral mixture of sugars produced by cactus and PVA is a non-toxic, water-soluble, synthetic polymer, which is widely used as a co-spinning agent for polymers. Mucilage was extracted from the cactus pad and prepared for electrospinning by mixing with acetic acid. Two types of PVA were used differentiating in high and low molecular weights. Concentrations of PVA were varied to find an adequate threshold for fiber formation. Changing the ratio of PVA to cactus mucilage produced fibers of different diameter and quality. The optimizations of the parameters used in the electrospinning setup were also a factor in creating quality fibers without deformity. An acceptable PVA to mucilage ratio mixture was reached for the use of the electrospinning process and consistent nanofibers were accomplished with the use of both the low and high molecular weight PVA. The fibers were observed using a Scanning Electron Microscope, Atomic Force Microscopy, and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. In this project we were able to obtain nanofiber meshes made with environmentally friendly materials with fiber diameters raging from 50nm to 7um sized. The produced nanofibers were made in the hope that it can be utilized in the future as an inexpensive, biocompatible, and biodegradable water filtration system.