Identification of important properties present in juice of Opuntia megacantha Salm-Dyck for the production of biopolymers

Abstract

In order to identify chemical and antioxidant properties of interest in the biopolymer industry, the chemical characterization of the juice of four variants of Opuntia megacantha cladodes was carried out; the variants present two degrees of maturity (tender and mature) and two different managements during their development (wild and cultivated). The degree of maturity of the cladodes was statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05), the juice of mature cladodes presented a greater amount of crude fiber and nitrogen-free material, while the juice of tender cladodes contains a greater amount of protein, ethereal extract and ashes. There was no significant statistical difference (p = 0.6917), in the content of phenols in the four studied variants, with concentrations between 165.6 and 176.6 mg GAE/mL; (2.18 and 3.61 mg GAE/g in dry weight). Ripe cladodes juices contain more of the different quantified sugars (p ≤ 0.05). Biopolymer films were prepared using clarified juice of tender wild cladodes, determining their tensile strength of 1.42 MPa, Young’s modulus of 1.77 MPa and elongation at breakage of 124.16%, it is considered that the juices characterized in this work can offer viable alternative to petroleum-derived polymers.