« Back to Farmacia Journal 6/2021

DETERMINATION OF POSTHARVEST QUALITY OF PORANG (AMORPHOPHALLUS MUELLERI BLUME) TUBERS BASED ON THE DYNAMICS OF WEIGHT LOSS, WATER CONTENT AND CARBOHYDRATE COMPONENTS FOR THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

DWI GUSMALAWATI ^1,2,3, ESTRI LARAS ARUMINGTYAS ^2,3, RETNO MASTUTI ², RODIYATI AZRIANINGSIH ^2,3*

Download Full Article PDF

This study aims to assess the quality of postharvest porang tubers based on the dynamics of weight loss, moisture content, and carbohydrate components for the pharmaceutical industry. We measured the weight loss, water content, and carbohydrate component every two weeks for 20 weeks postharvest (PW). Postharvest tuber weight loss increased significantly to 30.27%, followed by a decrease in water content to 75.94%. HPLC analysis on postharvest porang tubers successfully identified nine carbohydrate components: xylose, arabinose, rhamnose, glucose, galactose, mannose, trehalose, mannan, and glucomannan. Age of postharvest tubers had a significant effect on changes in carbohydrate components concentration because glucomannan had the highest concentration compared to other carbohydrate components at 20 PW. Glucomannan concentration was increased to 116 mg/g at 10 PW but decreased to 90 mg/g at 20 PW. Mannan, lower than glucomannan, showed a similar pattern, rising to a maximum of 93.17 mg/g at 8 PW and then decreased to 51.33 mg/g at 20 PW. Xylose, arabinose, rhamnose, and trehalose concentrations were very small, with less than 8.87 mg/g also continued to decrease until the age of 20 PW. Conversely, the concentration of carbohydrate components, glucose, galactose, and mannose increased until the age of 20 PW. Increased weight loss, decreased water content, and increased or decreased concentrations of carbohydrate components in postharvest porang tubers were related to respiration and transpiration activity. Based on those findings, it is suggested that the best time for processing porang tubers as pharmaceutical industry materials is no more than 10 PW.