Food Hydrocolloids 35 (2014) 613e619

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Food Hydrocolloids
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodhyd

Comparative study of effect of modication with ionic gums and dry

heating on the physicochemical characteristic of potato, sweet potato
and taro starches
K.S. Pramodrao, C.S. Riar*
Deptt. of Food Engineering and Technology, SLIET, Longowal, 148106 Sangrur, Punjab, India

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 9 February 2013
Accepted 7 August 2013

In the present study, the potato, sweet potato and taro starches were modied by dry heating with ionic
gums (Carboxy Methyl Cellulose and Sodium Alginate). The native as well as modied starches were
evaluated for its physicochemical characteristics. It was found that the modication of the starch reduces
the paste clarity, swelling power and solubility and hunter colour values of all the starch samples. The
swelling power and lightness was higher for the potato starches as compared to other starches, while
taro starch had higher solubility and least swelling power and sweet potato starches had least clarity. The
ionic modication of the starch increased the water and oil binding capacities and also the sediment
volume which further increased upon dry heating. The highest values of these variables were found for
potato starch. Upon modication the b value of the starch increased, thus yellowness of the starch
increased according to hunter colour lab reading.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Tubers starch
Isolated starch
CMC
Sodium alginate
Dry heating
Physico-chemical characteristics

1. Introduction
After cellulose, starch is the most abundant carbohydrate
available from agricultural raw materials. The estimated world
production of starch amounts to 58 million tonnes, extracted from
maize (46 million), wheat (4.6 million), potatoes (3.5 million), and
the remaining coming from rice and cassava roots (tapioca) (Kamm,
Gruber, & Kamm, 2006).
In many instances, the root and tuber starches contain signicant
amounts of mono phosphate esters covalently bound to starch (Lim,
Chang, & Chung, 2001). Potato starch is unique in comparison to
other cereal starches (corn, wheat, rice, etc) because of its larger
granule size, longer amylose and amylopectin chain length, presence of phosphate ester groups on amylopectin, ability to exchange
certain cations with corresponding effects on viscosity behaviour,
ability to form a thick visco-elastic gel upon heating and subsequent
cooling in water, and poor thermal and shear stability of this gel
(Jane, Kasemsuwan, & Chen, 1996). Sweet potato starch granules are
reported to be round, oval and polygonal in shapes with size ranging
from 2 to 42 mm (Tian, Rickard, & Blanshard, 1991). Lu, Chen, Lin, and
Chang (2005) found that taro starch has a high proportion of short
chains and long average chain lengths fraction of amylopectin which
displayed high elasticity and strong gel after heating.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 91 9815969140.
E-mail addresses: charanjitriar@yahoo.com, craina71@yahoo.co.in (C.S. Riar).
0268-005X/$ e see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2013.08.006

The use of starch in various products and manufacturing processes is determined by its functional properties such as gelatinization, pasting, retrogradation, viscosity, swelling and solubility,
water absorption which vary considerably from crop to crop and
with ecological and agronomic inuences (Yuan, Zhang, Dai, & Yu,
2007). The starch functional properties are dependent on composition and molecular structures of the starches which include
amylose/amylopectin ratio, phosphorus content, granular size, and
molecular weight of the starches and chain length distribution of
amylopectin (Lu et al., 2005; Raina, Singh, Bawa, & Saxena, 2006).
The purpose of starch modication is to stabilize starch granules
during processing and to make starch suitable for many food and industrial applications (Schmitz et al, 2006). The pure starch pastes
generally show a less uniform network of disrupted starch granule
fragments than those containing gum. The starchegum pastes present
a shrunken and tight arrangement of the granule remnants. The
interaction of both starch and gum improves the tensile strength and
both water vapour and oxygen permeability required for example for
the starch-based biodegradable lms. The addition of gum to starch in
food system is known to modify and control the rheological and
pasting properties of starch. The specic adjustment of the rheological
properties of starch is of signicance in order to regulate production
processes and to optimize applicability, stability, and sensory properties of food products (Abdulmola, Hember, Richardson, & Morris,
1996; Shi & BeMiller, 2002). Heat-moisture treatment has been
extensively studied as a physical method for starch modication, but

614

K.S. Pramodrao, C.S. Riar / Food Hydrocolloids 35 (2014) 613e619

heat treatment of starch under dry conditions has been studied only
rarely. Seguchi and Yamada (1988) found that the hydrophobic nature
of wheat starch can be enhanced by heating at 120  C for several hours.
Natural or modied gums (hydrocolloids), often used together with
starch in various food products, (Alloncle, Lefebvre, Llamas, &
Doublier, 1989; Christianson, Hodge, Osborne, & Detroy, 1981; Liu,
Ramsden, & Corke, 1999). Instead of the simple aqueous mixing of
starch and gums, processes accompanied by heating such as jetcooking (Fanta, Shogren, & Salch, 1999) and extrusion have been
used to provide new functionality to mixture products.
Starches, including tuber starch are widely used in both food and
non-food applications. Starch also nds its application in the packaging industry in the form of bioplastics (edible lm). With increasing
industrial demand for starches, there is need to explore new and
alternative sources of starch. Tropical root and tuber crops could offer
this opportunity as these crops are rich in starch (Wickramasinghe,
2009). Starches obtained from tropical roots and tubers have never
been commercialized because their properties are not much known.
However, for long, their role has mostly been that of staple food for the
worlds hot and humid regions and the tropics, and food security crops
in the developing countries (FAO, 1998; Scott, Rosegrant, & Ringler,
2000). Keeping in view the above facts, present study is planned to
carry out the extraction, modication of tuber starches with ionic
gums (Carboxy methyl Cellulose (CMC) and Sodium alginate) and
study of compositional variation and physicochemical characteristics.
2. Materials and methods
Sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) and Taro (Colocasia esculenta) are
seasonal crops and remain available in the local market in the
months of November and December. The availability of the potato
(Solanum tuberosum) crop is about round the year but the special
variety having red skin remains available only in winter season
(NovembereDecember). The good quality raw material free of
blemishes was procured from the local market of Sangrur, Punjab
(India). Carboxy Methyl Cellulose was procured from Central Drug
House (CDH) Laboratory Reagents, New Delhi and Sodium Alginate
was procured from S. D. Fine Chemicals Ltd, Mumbai, India.
2.1. Isolation of Starch
Starches were isolated from potato, sweet potato and taro by
slight modication of the method as described by Singh, Raina, Bawa,
and Saxena (2005). The tubers were washed, peeled and shredded.
Shreds were put into plain water (pH 6.8). After that the shreds were
put in water solution containing potassium metabisulphite (KMS)
(0.25%) in combination with citric acid (0.12%) in order to improve the
colour of starch. Then shreds were ground with high speed blender
(Inalsa mixer) for 1 min to a ne paste. The water in 1:4 ratios was
added to paste, which was then sieved through 80mesh sieve. The

Swelling power %

at 50  C to a moisture content of 10% (wet basis). After drying starch

was ground in lab grinder and then passed through 100 mesh sieve
and stored in air tight containers at ambient temperature.
2.2. Modication of Starch
Potato, sweet potato and taro starches were modied using
method of Lim, Han, Lim, and BeMiller (2002). The treatments for
starch samples are given in Table 1. The Modication of starches was
carried out by dry heating of starch with ionic gums, sodium alginate
and carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC). Initially sodium alginate or
CMC, (0.4 g, 1% on starch basis) was added slowly in distilled water
about 70 ml with vigorous stirring using magnetic stirrer. Starch
(39.6 g) was added to the gum solution and the dispersion was stirred
continuously for 30 min at room temperature. The whole dispersion
was then transferred to a glass dish and dried at 45  C in an oven to a
moisture content of <10%. The dried starch was ground into powder
using lab grinder and passed through 100 mesh sieve. The starchgum powdered mixture was heated in an aluminium dish in an
electric oven at 130  C for 2 h or 4 h. The starch itself was concurrently
heat treated without gum under identical conditions.
2.3. Analysis of potato, sweet potato and taro starches
The analyses of starches were carried out for moisture, crude
protein (%N  6.25), and ash content by the ofcial methods 15-A,
8-12, and 32-10 of AACC (2000). The total starch was determined by
the method of Chiang and Johnson (1977). Total carbohydrate was
quantied by phenol sulphuric acid method as described by Dubois
et al. (1956) and modied by Wankhede and Tharanthan (1976).
Amylose content was determined as per the method described by
Scott, Hugh, and Colin (1998). Water and oil binding capacities were
determined using the method described by Yamazaki (1953) and
modied by Medcalf and Giles (1965).
2.3.1. Swelling power and solubility
Swelling power and solubility were determined with slight
modications to the methods described by Wang et al. (2010).
Starch (0.6 g d/b) was heated with 40 mL of water to 60  C for
30 min. Lump formation was prevented by stirring. The mixture
was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 15 min. The centrifuge used was
from REMI Equipment, India. The supernatant was carefully
removed and the swollen starch sediment was weighed. An aliquot
of supernatant (5 ml) was taken in pre-weighed petri-dish and
evaporated overnight at 130  C and weighed. The residue obtained
after drying the supernatant represented the amount of starch
solubilized in water. The result was expressed as:

Solubility %

Weight of soluble starch

 100
Weight of Sample

Weight of sediment paste  100

Weight of sample on dry basis  100  % solubility

ltrate was then allowed to settle down residues at 8  C for 8 h. The

precipitate was again washed with water and centrifuged (500 rpm)
to free it from acid and mucilage at least 3e5 times depending upon
starch and checked with 0.01 N NaOH for acidity. The starch precipitates thus obtained were transferred to trays and dried in an oven

2.3.2. Sediment volume

Sediment volume was determined by the method of Tessler
(1978). One gram of starch on dry basis was weighed into beaker
and 95 ml of distilled water was then added. The pH of the starch
slurry was adjusted to 7.0 using 5% NaOH or 5% HCl, following

K.S. Pramodrao, C.S. Riar / Food Hydrocolloids 35 (2014) 613e619

Table 1
Treatments for modication of tuber starches with ionic gums and dry heating.
Samples

Starch
(g)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

50
50
50
39.6
39.6
39.6
39.6
39.6
39.6

Treatments
Sodium
alginate
(% w/w)

CMC
(%w/w)

Heating
temperature
( C)

Heating
duration
(h)

e
e
e
1
1
1
e
e
e

e
e
e
e
e
e
1
1
1

e
130
130
e
130
130
e
130
130

e
2
4
e
2
4
e
2
4

which the slurry was cooked in a boiling water bath for 15 min.
Distilled water was then added to bring the total weight to 100 g.
The mixture was then stirred thoroughly and transferred to a
100 ml graduated cylinder. The cylinder was then sealed with
aluminium foil and the starch slurry was kept at room temperature
for 24 h. The volume of the sediment consisting of starch granules
was then measured for sediment volume.
2.3.3. Paste clarity
The clarity (% transmittance at 650 nm) of starch paste was
measured using the procedure of Singh, Naoyoshi, and Nishinari
(2006). A 1% aqueous suspension of starch adjusted to pH 7.0 was
heated in boiling water bath for 30 min with intermittent shaking.
After that the suspension was cooled down to 25  C. The light
transmittance at 650 nm was read against water blank.
2.3.4. Colour determination by hunter colorimeter
The colour of the starches was measured by a colorimeter
(Model I-5 Green Macbeth) as L*, a*, and b* values [L* 0 (black) to
100 (white); a* 60 (green) to 60 (red); and b* 60 (blue)
* ), hue angle (H) and
to 60 (yellow)]. Total colour difference (DEab
chroma (C) were calculated using following equation:

DL* Lsample  LStandard ; Da asample  astandard ; Db*

bsample  bstandard
h


DEab
DL 2 Da 2 Db 2

H tan1 b =a

i0:5

i0:5
h
; C a 2 b 2

when a > 0 and b > 0; H

180 tan1 b =a when a < 0

615

Table 2
Chemical composition of native potato, sweet potato and taro starchesa.
Composition analysis
(%) (wb)

Potato starch

Sweet potato
starch

Taro starch

Moisture
Ash
Total Carbohydrates
Protein
Starch
Amylose

09.46 
0.27 
90.40a
0.26 
84.34 
24.00 

11.00 
0.39 
88.80b
0.35 
83.60 
25.60 

12.48 
0.45 
84.60c
0.44 
79.92 
20.40 

0.3c
0.01c
0.1c
0.6a
0.3a

0.6b
0.01b
0.1b
0.6a
0.0a

0.2a
0.0a
0.1a
0.9b
0.1b

Values denoted by different online small letters along the row differ signicantly
(P  0.05). Total carbohydrate: from difference.
a
Samples in triplicates were taken.

(wb) respectively. These results were in comparison to the work

carried out by Chen, Schols, and Voragen (2003). The total carbohydrate contents of the native potato, sweet potato and taro
starches ranges from 84.600% to 90.400%, Oladeyebe, Oshodi, and
Oladeyebe (2009) observed the total carbohydrate content in
native sweet potato starch was about 86.90%. The starch content of
the potato starch was found to be 84.336% (wb), where as native
sweet potato and taro contained about 83.600% and 79.924% starch
respectively. The protein content of the potato starch was 0.263%,
and that of sweet potato starch was 0.350%. The taro starch had
protein content of 0.438% protein respectively. The protein content
of taro starch was high due to presence of mucilage in the isolated
starch. The isolated native potato starch contains amylose about
24.00%. The amylose content of the native sweet potato starch was
observed to be 25.60%. The taro starch observed to contain less
amylose around 20.40% as compared to potato and sweet potato
starches.
3.2. Physicochemical characteristics
3.2.1. Paste clarity
Paste clarity of tuber starches is shown in Table 3. It was
observed that that heating after 2 h of the sample caused signicant
decrease in the % transmittance as compared to control starch. The
starch samples heated further for 4 h did not show signicant
decrease in paste clarity. The decrease in the % Transmittance upon
heating was due to restricted swelling of starches. Among all the
starches potato starch had shown highest paste clarity (33.0) followed by taro starch (10.6) and than by sweet potato starch (8.0).
The highest clarity of potato paste is due to the phosphate groups
covalently bound preventing association by intra or intermolecular
bonds (Banks & Green-wood, 1975). The % transmittance of taro
starch was more but not signicantly different than that of sweet
potato starch. The decreased paste clarity of sweet potato starches

H 360 tan1 b =a when a > 0 and b < 0

2.4. Statistical analyses
The statistical analyses were carried out by two ways Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA) and means were compared using LSD (Least
square Difference) test, with the help of Excel spreadsheets of MS
Ofce 2007 software package and Genstat12 edition.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Compositional analysis
Compositional analysis of tuber starches is shown in Table 2. The
moisture and ash contents of native potato, sweet-potato and taro
starches varied between 9.464%e12.476% (wb) and 0.272%e0.450%

Table 3
Paste clarity of native and modied potato, sweet potato and taro starches.a.
Samples

Transmittance
(%)

Samples

Transmittance
(%)

Samples

Transmittance
(%)

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9

33.0aA
28.5aB
27.1aB
26.0aB
24.5aB
22.3aB
21.7aC
21.1aC
18.5aD

SP1
SP2
SP3
SP4
SP5
SP6
SP7
SP8
SP9

8.0bA
7.8bA
7.5bB
7.4bB
7.1bC
6.9bC
7.3bD
6.9bE
6.2bE

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

10.6bA
9.1bB
8.6bB
8.2bB
7.6bB
7.2bB
7.8bB
7.5bB
6.9bB

Values denoted by different online small letters in the rows and by the different
online capital letters in the column differs signicant (P  0.05).
PPotato, SP sweet potato, T Taro.
a
Samples in triplicates were taken.

616

K.S. Pramodrao, C.S. Riar / Food Hydrocolloids 35 (2014) 613e619

as compared to the taro starch was also because when starch suspensions were heated with high temperature, the granules might
have ruptured more and got disperse more comparatively, causing
leaching of amylose. This caused cloudiness in the paste and
increased in absorbance. Amylose reorganization forms aggregates
that reduce light transmittance of starch pastes (Bultosa, Hall, &
Taylor, 2002; Tetchi, Sabate, Amani, & Colonna, 2007) where as
samples turbiddity increases with increase in polymer concentration and molecular weight i.e. amylose and subsequently with
temperature treatment (Miles, Morris, Orford, & Ring, 1985) as has
been seen in sweet potato starch.
The sodium alginate modied starch showed signicantly
(P  0.05) decrease in paste clarity as compared to native and heat
modied starches. The heating of the sodium alginate modied
starches showed further decrease in the paste clarity as heating
advanced. The heat treatment caused restricted swelling of the
starch. Also the gums bounds with the leached amylose outside of
the granules thus aids in the opaque paste formation. CMC modication caused further signicant (P  0.05) decrease in the paste
clarity as compared to sodium alginate modied starch. Here also
heating caused further reduction in the paste clarity as was
observed in sodium alginate modied starches.
3.2.2. Solubility
The solubility is contributed by the content of amylose, and the
swelling power is contributed by the content of amylopectin (Tester
& Morrison, 1990). The solubility of starch samples without gum
addition (Table 4) decreased signicantly between control sample
and the starch samples heated for 2 h except for sweet potato
starches, however further heating of starches to 4 h had no signicant decrease in solubility except for sweet potato starch. The
starch molecules gets integrated with water as the temperature of
heating increased from 0 to 130  C as a result, the amylose and
amylopectin gets dissociated in the suspension and the solubility of
starch gets increased. The solubility of the potato starch was found
to be lowest 6.30%, followed by the sweet potato 6.466%, followed
by taro starch 7.416%. Starches with large granules display higher
swelling power but lower solubility than starches with smaller
sized granules (Kaur, Singh, & Sodhi, 2002). The more solubility of
the taro starch may be due to presence of the soluble mucilage and
gums in native starch which might be leached out in the suspension
and further leached out as heating rate increased. Dry heating of
potato and sweet potato starches caused restricted swelling, which
results decreased water absorption by the starch granules. Due to
restricted swelling the rate of leaching out of amylose gets
decreased which result in decreased solubility in suspension. Shi
and BeMiller (2002), Lee, Baek, Cha, Park, and Lim (2002) reported that the initial increase in viscosity occurring before pasting
of dilute normal starchegum systems was attributed to interactions

Solubility (%)

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9

6.30
6.23
6.23
6.20
6.08
5.98
5.43
5.22
5.20











0.1aA
0.01aB
0.1aB
0.0aB
0.1aC
0.2aD
0.1aE
0.0aF
0.1aF

Samples

Solubility (%)

SP1
SP2
SP3
SP4
SP5
SP6
SP7
SP8
SP9

6.47
6.40
6.32
6.32
6.17
5.75
5.69
5.50
5.08a











0.1aA
0.1aA
0.2aB
0.10C
0.1aD
0.0aE
0.1bF
0.2bG
0.0H

Samples

Solubility (%)

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

7.42
7.30
7.27
7.05
6.82
6.36
6.33
6.10
5.82











3.2.3. Swelling power

The swelling power of the native potato starch is highest
amongst all the native starches, followed by the sweet potato and
then by the taro starch (Table 5). Srichuwong, Sunarti, Mishima,
Isono, and Hisamatsu (2005) also observed the maximum
swelling power of the potato starch among the other tuber
starches. The heating of the starch without gums caused signicant
decrease in the swelling power in all the starches to somewhat
similar in manner except for the sweet potato starch in which
further heating did not cause signicant decrease. It was known
that heat treatments suppressed granule swelling and retarded
gelatinization (Ahmad & Williams, 1999). As heating time during
modication increased starches showed decrease in the swelling
power.
The modication with gums caused the restricted swelling of
the starches, which would have decreased the swelling power of
modied starches. Hydrocolloids interact with the amylose outside
the starch granules to produce a more complex matrix of amylose
and hydrocolloid surrounding the gelatinized granules (Abdulmola
et al., 1996). The swelling inhibiting effect produced by the CMC is
more severe than that produced by the sodium alginate for all the
starches. By heating the starch-CMC mixture for 2 h, the inhibitory
effect appeared to increase more, thus, the swelling power values of

Table 5
Swelling powers of native and modied potato, sweet potato and taro starchesa.

Table 4
Solubility of native and modied potato, sweet potato and taro starchesa.
Samples

between certain leached molecules, primarily amyloses, and

certain gums, i.e. CMC, gellan, xanthan, guar gum and sodium
alginate. The modication of starch with sodium alginate caused
signicant decrease in the solubility as compared to the native
starch and starch modied without gums. The modication with
CMC showed further signicant decrease in the solubility of the
starches which can make it applicable for avour encapsulation for
control release rate and makes prepared lm suitable for packaging
application. Lim, BeMiller, and Lim (2003) reported that ester bond
could be formed between the starch and CMC when the starch and
gum mixture were dry-heated. According to Gallant (1997) starch
granules are organized in a manner that they have radial channels
to be predominantly composed of semi-crystalline or amorphous
material. Through these channels amylose can leak out from the
granules during gelatinization. This is in agreement with the
assumption of Langton and Hermansson (1989), who claimed that
solubilized amylose is transported outside the granules through
openings in the equatorial groove. In the presence of CMC or sodium alginate, at higher temperatures, amylose leakage is hindered.
After rupturing, the starch granules leached out amylose and gums
forming a continues phase, which results in formation of protective
lm over granules and restrict further solubilisation of amylose into
the suspension thus results in further decrease in solubility of
starches especially by CMC modication.

0.0bA
0.0bB
0.1bB
0.1bC
0.3bD
0.1bE
0.2E
0.0bF
0.4bG

Values denoted by different online small letters in the rows and by the different
online capital letters in the column differs signicant (P  0.05).
a
Samples in triplicates were taken.

Samples Swelling power Samples Swelling power Samples Swelling power

(%)
(%)
(%)
P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9

19.39
19.08
18.96
18.95
18.90
18.84
18.83
18.73
18.61











0.3aA
0.0aB
0.3aC
0.5aC
0.2aD
0.0aD
0.8aD
0.8aE
0.3aF

SP1
SP2
SP3
SP4
SP5
SP6
SP7
SP8
SP9

15.48
15.19
15.15
15.15
15.01
14.90
14.86
14.46
14.42











0.2bA
0.3bB
0.5bB
0.1bB
0.4bC
0.1bC
0.0bD
1.0bE
0.0bE

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

12.47
12.42
12.27
12.13
11.87
11.83
11.78
11.42
10.99











0.3cA
0.3cA
0.5cB
0.0cC
0.0cD
0.1cD
0.3cD
0.1cE
0.2cF

Values denoted by different online small letters in the rows and by the different
online capital letters in the column differs signicant (P  0.05).
a
Samples in triplicates were taken.

K.S. Pramodrao, C.S. Riar / Food Hydrocolloids 35 (2014) 613e619

starches were dominantly affected by structural modication

mainly phosphate substitution and it may be due to the repulsion
between the negatively charged modied groups on the starch
molecules (Sitohy, Labib, El-Saadany, & Ramadan, 2000). The degree of swelling and granular integrity is directly related to the
viscosity of the starch paste (Borwankar, 1992). The increase in
starch peak viscosity in the presence of hydrocolloids has been
reported previously (Alloncle et al., 1989).
3.2.4. Water binding capacity (WBC)
Water binding capacity of the native potato starch was highest
among all the control starch samples (Table 6). The comparatively
highest WBC resulted due to largest granular size in the potato
starch as compared to other starch samples. Phosphate monoesters
present in potato starch promote hydrophilic nature, increasing
water binding capacity (Swinkels, 1985). Dry heating of the starches
after 2 h heating showed signicant (P  0.5) increase in water
binding capacity as compared to native starches but not after 4 h of
heating without gum addition. The heating might caused the
exposure of the hydrophilic groups to water binding which caused
modication in starch functionality (Lim, BeMiller, & Lim, 2006).
Modication of starch with gums signicantly increased the WBC
as the water being absorbed on to the amorphous hydrophilic region like phosphate ester groups and carboxyl groups. Primarily, in
the potato starch phosphate groups are responsible for the water
binding ability. Addition of the gums increased the carboxyl groups
in the starches thus caused further absorption of the water into the
matrix. During heating of the starch, the alginate and starch
interaction provides more surfaces (amorphous region) for the
water absorption and with the addition of the CMC anionic groups
got increased. It has been observed that CMC modication followed
by dry heating showed more water binding than the alginate. This
may be due to more molecular interactions in CMC modied starch
as water binding capacity reects the water absorption of the starch
granule and the degree of association of the molecules within the
starch granule (Medcalf & Giles, 1965).
3.2.5. Oil binding capacity (OBC)
The afnity of starch towards oil was less than that for the water
Table 7. Thus starches showed less OBC as compared to the WBC.
Among the native starches the potato starches showed more OBC
than the other starches. Native potato, sweet potato and taro
starches had the oil binding capacities 76.846%, 74.080% and
70.826% respectively. Dry heating of the starches without gums
showed higher OBC than the native starches, which further
increased with increase in dry heating time. The heating pattern
and time of heating has inuence on the oil binding capacity of

Table 6
Water binding capacity of native and modied potato, sweet potato and taro
starchesa.
Samples Water binding Samples Water binding Samples Water binding
capacity (%)
capacity (%)
capacity (%)
P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9

83.05
84.06
84.63
86.00
88.05
89.73
89.89
91.94
92.40











0.4aA
0.3aB
0.1aB
0.0aB
0.1aC
0.5aD
0.4aD
0.0aE
0.6aE

SP1
SP2
SP3
SP4
SP5
SP6
SP7
SP8
SP9

80.52
81.18
82.32
82.92
84.18
85.14
86.88
88.83
88.98











0.3cA
0.1cB
0.0aC
0.0aC
0.4cD
0.3cD
0.6cE
0.6cF
0.4cF

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

70.15
71.49
72.43
73.96
78.15
79.97
80.97
81.80
84.94











0.0bA
0.0bB
0.8bB
0.8bC
0.9bD
0.7bE
0.7bF
0.0bF
0.4bG

Values denoted by different online small letters in the rows and by the different
online capital letters in the column differs signicant (P  0.05).
a
Samples in triplicates were taken.

617

Table 7
Oil binding capacity of native and modied potato, sweet potato and taro starchesa.
Sample

Oil binding
capacity (%)

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9

76.85
77.14
78.83
80.13
81.55
82.86
84.82
85.94
86.49











0.3aA
0.2aA
0.5aB
0.9aC
0.1aD
0.6aE
0.6aF
0.2aG
0.0aG

Sample

Oil binding
capacity (%)

SP1
SP2
SP3
SP4
SP5
SP6
SP7
SP8
SP9

74.08
74.86
75.61
77.07
80.29
82.06
83.69
83.98
84.04











0.1cA
0.0cA
0.1cCB
0.8cC
0.7cD
0.9aE
0.1aF
0.0aF
0.5cF

Sample

Oil binding
capacity (%)

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

70.83
71.86
72.53
74.68
75.58
76.61
77.00
78.90
79.91











0.4bA
0.7bB
0.3bB
0.3bC
0.2bD
0.5bE
0.0bE
0.0bF
0.6bG

Values denoted by different online small letters in the rows and by the different
online capital letters in the column differs signicant (P  0.05).
a
Samples in triplicates were taken.

starch as reported by (Seguchi, 1984). The oil binding capacities of

alginate modied starches were 80.134%, 82.552%, 82.862% for
potato starches, 77.072%, 80.294%, 82.062% for sweet potato
starches and 74.678% 75.578%, 76.906% for taro starches, with
respect to heating time of 0 h, 2 h, 4 h respectively. Hydrocolloids
interacted with the amylose outside the starch granules to produce
a more complex matrix of amylose and hydrocolloid surrounding
the gelatinized granules (Kruger, Ferrero, & Zaritzky, 2003) which
caused entrapment of oil in the matrix. The CMC modied starches
had shown higher OBC than that of alginate modied starches.
These varied from 82.820%, 84.940%, 86.494% for potato starches,
83.694%, 83.980%, 84.040% for sweet potato starches and 76.496%,
78.9020%, 79.908%, with respect of heating time 0 h, 2 h, 4 h
respectively at (P  0.05) level of signicance Gelling agents form a
links between their molecules, building a three dimensional lattice
in a food system, the result is that particulates or oil droplets
become permanently trapped in lattice and do not separate out
(Hoeer, 2004, chaps. 1e3, pp. 1e42). Food eating quality is often
connected with the retention of water and oil in swollen starch
granules (Rickard, Asaoka, & Blanshard, 1991).
3.2.6. Sediment volume
The sediment volume of the native potato, sweet potato and taro
starches were signicantly different and found to be 32 mL, 21 mL
and 13.5 mL respectively (Table 8). The heating of potato starch
caused the decrease in the sediment volume of the starch after 24 h
as compared to native starches but reverse was for other starch
samples. The dry heating of the starch might caused solubilization
of amylose in the suspension, thus showed decrease in the sediment volume in case of potato starch as rate of starch dry heating
increased from 2 h to 4 h. This may be due to large starch granular
size of potato starch as compared to other starch samples which

Table 8
Sediment volume of native and modied potato, sweet potato and taro starchesa.
Sample

Sediment
volume (ml)

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9

32.0
31.5
30.5
41.0
40.2
38.5
42.0
40.7
39.1











0.0aB
0.0aA
0.1aA
0.0aD
0.1aD
0.1aC
0.1aE
0.3aD
0.1aC

Sample

Sediment
volume (ml)

SP1
SP2
SP3
SP4
SP5
SP6
SP7
SP8
SP9

21.0
25.0
27.0
30.5
31.0
30.0
32.0
31.8
30.0











0.1aA
0.3bB
0.6bC
0.6bD
0.1bD
0.0bD
0.1bE
0.4bE
0.8bD

Sample

Sediment
volume (ml)

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

13.5
15.5
15.0
17.5
18.0
20.0
20.5
21.0
19.0











0.5cA
0.0cB
0.5cB
0.0cC
0.6cC
0.0cD
0.1cE
0.7cE
0.2cD

Values denoted by different online small letters in the rows and by the different
online capital letters in the column differs signicant (P  0.05).
a
Samples in triplicates were taken.

618

K.S. Pramodrao, C.S. Riar / Food Hydrocolloids 35 (2014) 613e619

Table 9
Colour measurement of native and modied potato, sweet potato and taro starches by Hunter colorimetera.
Sample

L*

a*

b*

DE

Sample

L*

a*

b*

DE

Sample

L*

a*

b*

DE

P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9

97.693a
96.930b
96.752b
95.658c
95.441c
95.204d
95.364c
95.132e
94.942f

0.096
0.088f
0.350e
0.502d
0.674d
1.035b
1.813c
2.345a
1.843c

0.933g
1.170f
2.591e
3.210d
4.040b
6.761a
3.702c
6.560a
7.874a

NA
0.983
1.839
2.757
3.232
5.937
3.702
6.572
7.466

SP1
SP2
SP3
SP4
SP5
SP6
SP7
SP8
SP9

94.007a
93.866b
93.586c
93.114d
93.016e
93.272d
92.989f
92.928f
91.707g

0.216
0.037
0.170
0.079e
0.661d
0.797c
0.680d
0.923b
1.3590a

1.677g
2.204f
1.257h
2.280f
3.790d
4.233b
2.460e
4.080c
4.779a

NA
0.674
0.784
1.316
2.597
3.385
3.843
4.310
4.9633

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
T6
T7
T8
T9

94.376a
94.189b
94.116c
94.056c
93.606e
93.408f
93.866d
93.586e
93.272g

0.994f
0.711g
1.142e
1.133e
3.216c
3.223c
2.780d
4.053b
4.225a

4.382f
3.541g
4.645e
5.010d
5.265c
5.630b
5.915a
5.181c
4.759e

NA
0.891
0.550
0.896
2.754
2.997
3.301
3.469
3.763

Values denoted by different online small letters in the column differs signicant (P  0.05).
a
Samples in triplicates were taken.

caused decrease in bond strength due to heating which decreased

sediment volume (Moorthy, 2002).
The modication of starches with sodium alginate caused the
increase in the sediment volume of the starches as compare to
native and dry heated starches. The alginate added extra volume to
the paste sediment, thus caused increase in the sediment volume of
the modied starches. The sediment volume increased due to increase in swelling of starch granules might be due to decrease in
internal association maintaining the structural integrity (Peroni,
Rocha, & Franco, 2006). As heating advanced from 2 h to 4 h the
rate of solubilisation increased which resulted restricted swelling.
As a result there was further decrease in the sediment volume in
modied starches. The trend of decrease was similar in the all the
tested starches for both gum modications. The decrease in sediment volume due to increase in time of heating might be due to
decrease in bond strength in starch molecules (Moorthy, 2002).
3.2.7. Colour measurement by hunter colorimeter
The colour values of native and modied tuber starches are
shown in Table 9. The native potato starch showed the L*-value
97.693, a-value is 0.096, b-value 0.933 and hue 95.874. The
heating of starch for 2 h and 4 h caused signicant decrease in the
L*-value and increase in the a* and b* values. A similar trend was
found in the all the starches during dry heat modication. In case of
native sweet potato starch, L* value (94.007) was lower than that
for the native potato and taro starch samples. High amylose
starches sweet potato in this case re-associate more readily as
compared to high amylopectin starches thereby resulting in more
opacity (Bultosa et al., 2002). The hue for sweet potato and taro
starch 97.393 & 77.219 respectively. In case of native taro starch b*
value was slight higher indicated the presence of yellowness in the
sample.
As obvious modication of starch with gums followed by heating further signicantly effected the colour values in which L*
decreased signicantly and accordingly other colour parameters
increased signicantly. This may be due to browning and reassociation at elevated temperature. The modication of the
starches with the alginate showed L* value of 95.658, a* value
0.502, b* value 3.210, DE value 2.757, chroma 2.354 and hue
81.117 for potato starch and L* value of 93.114, a* value 0.079, b*
value 2.280, DE value 1.316, chroma 0.671 and hue 88.015 for
sweet potato starches. For the taro starch the values were L*
94.055, a* 1.133, b* 5.010, DE 0.896, chroma; 0.643 and hue
77.662. It was observed that the modication with CMC resulted in
more decrease in the L* value, and increase in the a* and b*
values as compared to sodium alginate modication. Amylose
reorganization and restricted swelling formed aggregates and
decreased water solubility due to modication with ionic gums
depending upon degree of re-association that results in decrease in
light transmittance of starch pastes as reported by Rutenburg and
Solarek (1984)and Tetchi et al. (2007).

4. Summary and conclusion

In the present study the starch was isolated from the potato,
sweet potato and taro with wet grinding method. The isolation of
starches was followed by modication with combined effect of
modication treatments such as dry heat modication with or
without addition of the gums like sodium alginate and carboxy
methyl cellulose. Of the physicochemical properties studied and
were signicantly affected upon dry heating with ionic gum with
respect to sources of starches and the type of modifying agent along
with the conditions of modication. The starch functional properties such as oil binding capacity, water binding capacities, sediment
volume of all the starches which increased signicantly predicts its
application variation with modication and for product development where such properties are needed on higher sides. The
characteristics such as paste clarity, swelling power and solubility
decreased signicantly with modied starches which indicated
that the variations in properties can be moulded as per the product
and necessity.
References
Abdulmola, N. A., Hember, M. W. N., Richardson, R. K., & Morris, E. R. (1996). Effect
of Xanthan on the small-deformation rheology of cross linked & uncrosses
linked waxy maize starches. Carbohydrate Polymers, 31, 65e78.
Ahmad, F. B., & Williams, P. A. (1999). Effect of sugars on the thermal and rheological properties of sago starch. Biopolymers, 50, 401e412.
Alloncle, M., Lefebvre, J., Llamas, G., & Doublier, J. L. (1989). A rheological characterization of cereal starchegalactomannan mixtures. Cereal Chemistry, 66,
90e93.
Banks, W., & Green-wood, C. T. (1975). Starch structure and its components. Edinburgh: University Press.
Borwankar, R. P. (1992). Food texture & rheology. In R. P. Borwankar, &
C. F. shoemaker (Eds.), Rheology of foods (pp. 1e16). New York: Elsevier.
Bultosa, G., Hall, A. N., & Taylor, J. R. N. (2002). Physicalechemical characterization
of grain Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc) Trotter starch. Starch/Starke, 54, 461e468.
Chen, Z., Schols, H. A., & Voragen, A. G. J. (2003). Physicochemical properties of
starches obtained from three different varieties of Chinese sweet potatoes.
Journal of Food Science, 68, 431e437.
Chiang, B. Y., & Johnson, J. A. (1977). Measurement of total and gelatinized starch by
glucoamylase and o-toluidine. Cereal Chemistry, 54, 429e435.
Christianson, D. D., Hodge, J. E., Osborne, D., & Detroy, R. W. (1981). Gelatinization of
wheat starch as modied by xanthan gum, guar gum, and cellulose gum. Cereal
Chemistry, 58, 513e517.
Fanta, G. F., Shogren, R. L., & Salch, J. H. (1999). Steam jet cooking of high amylose
starch-fatty acid mixtures. An investigation of complex formation. Carbohydrate
Polymers, 38, 1e6.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). (1998). Tropical starch misses the market.
FAO Magazine. http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/9809/spot3.htm.
Gallant, D. J. (1997). Microscopy of starch: evidence of new level of granule organization. Carbohydrate Polymers, 32, 177e191.
Hoeer, A. C. (2004). Hydrocolloids (Egan Press handbook). St. Paul, MN: American
Association of Cereal Chemists.
Jane, J., Kasemsuwan, T., & Chen, J. F. (1996). Phosphorus in rice and other starches.
Cereal Foods World, 41, 827e832.
Kamm, B., Gruber, P. R., & Kamm, M. (2006). In Bioreneries e Industrial processes
and products (pp. 61e90). Weinheim: Wiley.
Kaur, L., Singh, N., & Sodhi, N. S. (2002). Some properties of potatoes and their
starches II. Morphological, thermal and rheological properties of starches. Food
Chemistry, 79, 183e192.

K.S. Pramodrao, C.S. Riar / Food Hydrocolloids 35 (2014) 613e619

Kruger, A., Ferrero, C., & Zaritzky, N. (2003). Modelling corn starch swelling in batch
systems: effect of sucrose and hydrocolloids. Journal of Food Engineering, 58,
125e133.
Langton, M., & Hermansson, A. M. (1989). Microstructural changes in wheat starch
dispersions during heating and cooling. Food Microstructure, 8, 29e39.
Lee, M. H., Baek, M. H., Cha, D. S., Park, H. J., & Lim, S. T. (2002). Freeze- thaw
stability of sweet potato starch gel by polysaccharide gums. Food Hydrocolloids, 16, 345e352.
Lim, H. S., BeMiller, J. N., & Lim, S. T. (2003). Effect of dry heating with
ionic gum at controlled pH on starch paste viscosity. Cereal Chemistry, 80,
198e202.
Lim, H. S., BeMiller, J. N., & Lim, S. T. (2006). Physical modication of waxy maize
starch by dry heating with ionic gums. Journal of Applied Glycoscience, 53,
281e286.
Lim, S. T., Chang, E. H., & Chung, H. J. (2001). Thermal transition characteristics of
heat-moisture treated corn and potato starches. Carbohydrate Polymers, 46,
107e115.
Lim, S. T., Han, J. A., Lim, H. S., & BeMiller, J. N. (2002). Modication of starch by dry
heating with ionic gums. Cereal Chemistry, 79, 601e606.
Liu, H. J., Ramsden, L., & Corke, H. (1999). Physical properties of cross-linked and
acetylated normal and waxy rice starch. Starch/Strke., 51, 249e252.
Lu, T. J., Chen, J. C., Lin, C. L., & Chang, Y. H. (2005). Properties of starches from
cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) tubers planted in different seasons. Food
Chemistry, 91, 69e77.
Medcalf, D. G., & Giles, K. A. (1965). Determination of starch damage by rate of
iodine absorption. Cereal Chemistry, 42, 546e557.
Miles, M. J., Morris, V. J., Orford, R. D., & Ring, S. G. (1985). The roles of amylose and
amylopectin in the gelation and retrogradation of starch. Carbohydrate Research,
135, 271e281.
Moorthy, S. N. (2002). Physicochemical and functional properties of tropical tuber
starches: a review. Starch/Strke, 54, 559e592.
Oladeyebe, A. O., Oshodi, A. A., & Oladeyebe, A. A. (2009). Physicochemical properties of starches of sweetpotato (Ipomea batata) and red cocoyam (Colocasia
esculenta) cormels. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 8, 313e315.
Peroni, F. H. G., Rocha, T. S., & Franco, C. M. L. (2006). Some structural and physicochemical characteristics of tuber and root starches. International Journal of
Food Science & Technology, 12, 505e513.
Raina, C. S., Singh, S., Bawa, A. S., & Saxena, D. C. (2006). Some characteristics of
acetylated, cross-linked and dual modied Indian rice starches. European Food
Research and Technology, 223, 561e570.
Rickard, J. E., Asaoka, M., & Blanshard, J. M. V. (1991). Review of the physicochemical
properties of cassava starch. Tropical Science, 31, 189e207.
Rutenburg, M. W., & Solarek, D. (1984). Starch derivatives: production and uses. In
R. L. Whistler, J. N. BeMiller, & E. F. Paschall (Eds.), Starch chemistry and technology (2nd ed.). (pp. 311) New York: Academic Press.
Schmitz, C. S., de Simas, K. N., Santos, K., Joo, J. J., de Mello Castanho
Amboni, R. D., & Amante, E. R. (2006). Cassava starch functional properties

619

by etherication-hydroxy-propylation. International Journal of Food Science &

Technology, 41, 681e687.
Scott, J. M., Hugh, J. C., & Colin, J. R. (1998). A simple and rapid colorimetric method
for the determination of amylose in starch products. Starch, 50, 158e163.
Scott, G. J., Rosegrant, M. W., & Ringler, C. (2000). Global projections of root and
tuber crops to the year 2020. Food Policy, 25, 561e597.
Seguchi, M. (1984). Oil-binding capacity of heat-treated wheat starch. Cereal
Chemistry, 61, 241e244.
Seguchi, M., & Yamada, Y. (1988). Hydrophobic character of heat-treated wheat
starch. Cereal Chemistry, 65, 375e376.
Shi, X., & BeMiller, J. N. (2002). Effects of food gums on viscosities of starch suspensions during pasting. Carbohydrate Polymers, 50, 7e18.
Singh, N., Naoyoshi, N., & Nishinari, K. (2006). Structural, thermal and viscoelastic
characteristics of starches separated from normal, sugary and waxy maize. Food
Hydrocolloids, 20, 923e935.
Singh, S., Raina, C. S., Bawa, A. S., & Saxena, D. C. (2005). Effect of heat-moisture
treatment and acid modication on rheological, textural and differential
scanning calorimetry characteristics of sweet potato starch. Journal of Food
Science, 70, 374e378.
Sitohy, M. Z., Labib, S. M., El-Saadany, S. S., & Ramadan, M. F. (2000). Optimizing the
conditions for starch dry phosphorylation with sodium mono- and dihydrogen
orthophosphate under heat and vacuum. Starch Staerke, 52, 95e100.
Srichuwong, S., Sunarti, T. C., Mishima, T., Isono, N., & Hisamatsu, M. (2005).
Starches from different botanical sources II: contribution of starch structure to
swelling and pasting properties. Carbohydrate Polymers, 62, 25e34.
Swinkels, J. J. M. (1985). Composition and properties of commercial starches. Starch/
Strke, 37, 1e5.
Tessler, M. M. (1978). Process for 494 preparing cross-linked starches. US Patent
4098997.
Tester, F., & Morrison, W. R. (1990). Swelling and gelatinisation of cereal starches. I.
Effects of amylopectin, amylose and lipids. Cereal Chemistry, 67, 551e557.
Tetchi, F. A., Sabate, A. R., Amani, G. N., & Colonna, P. (2007). Molecular and physicochemical characterisation of starches from yam, cocoyam, cassava, sweet
potato and ginger produced in the Ivory Coast. Journal of the Science of Food and
Agriculture, 87, 1906e1916.
Tian, S. J., Rickard, J. E., & Blanshard, J. M. (1991). Physicochemical properties of
sweet potato starch. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 57, 451e491.
Wang, L., Xie, B., Shi, J., Xue, S., Deng, Q., Wei, Y., et al. (2010). Physicochemical
properties and structure of starches from Chinese rice cultivars. Food Hydrocolloids, 24, 208e216.
Wankhede, D. B., & Tharanthan, R. N. (1976). Sesame (Sesamum indicum) carbohydrates. Journal of Agriculture Food Chemistry, 24, 655e659.
Wickramasinghe, H. A. M. (2009). Comparative analysis of starch properties of
different root and tuber crops of Sri Lanka. Food Chemistry, 112, 98e103.
Yuan, Y., Zhang, L., Dai, Y., & Yu, J. (2007). Physicochemical properties of starch
obtained from Dioscorea nipponica Makino comparison with other tuber
starches. Journal of Food Engineering, 82, 436e442.