Asparagus Roots: From an Agricultural By-Product to a Valuable Source of Fructans

Abstract

Asparagus roots are by-products from asparagus cultivation and they could be considered one of the best sources of fructans. These polymers are interesting food ingredients for their prebiotic and immuno-stimulating characteristics. The aim of this work is to characterize the fructan profile from the roots of several asparagus varieties grown at different locations and pickled at three vegetative statuses in order to valorize these by-products as fructan source. Fructans were extracted with hot water and fractionated into three pools according to their molecular weight (MW). Their average MW was studied by HPSEC and their degree of polymerization by HPAEC. The fructan content was up to 12.5% on fresh weight basis, depending on variety and sampling date. The relative abundance of the three pools also depended on the picking moment as after the spear harvest period their total content and MW increased. The average MW of the three fractions was similar among varieties with 4.8, 8.4 and 9 sugar units, although fructans up to 30 units were identified by HPAEC. These characteristics make them similar to the commercialized Orafti®-GR inulin, a common additive to food products. Therefore, the concept of asparagus roots as cultivation waste must be changed to a new feedstock for sustainable agriculture and industry.

Preparation, Structural Characterisation, and Bioactivities of Fructans: A Review

“…Polysaccharides of known MW are used as standards. In one example, standard compounds of MW 70, 40, and 6 kDa, along with maltotriose, sucrose, and glucose were separated on a TSKgel G3000PWXL column (Tosoh, Tokyo, Japan) and used to calculate the MW of three fructan fractions, obtaining equivalent sizes of 4.8, 8.4, and 9.0 sugar units, respectively [ 9 ].…”

Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) Production by Microorganisms with Fructosyltransferase Activity

“…Thus, they always possess an internal glucose unit in their structures, and there are neoinulin and neo-levan series [30]. These special series of fructans have been reported in bulbs of the Liliaceae family, for example, onion (Allium cepa L.), garlic (Allium sativum L.), asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.), and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) [33][34][35][36]. A relatively recently discovered type of neo-fructan called agavin, which are defined as highly branched neo-fructans commonly found in agave species [37][38][39][40].…”

Удосконалення Елементів Біологізації Технології Вирощування Аспарагусу За Краплинного Зрошення На Півдні України

“…Аспарагус -багаторічна роздільностатева дводомна рослина [3]. У кореневищі накопичується основна маса запасних пластичних речовин [4]. Навесні з бруньок відростають численні молоді пагони.…”

“…В Херсонській області високий адаптивний потенціал виявили гібриди селекції Нідерландів [13]. На врожайність і вміст корисних елементів вливають генетичні особливості сорту або гібриду, тривалість періоду збирання врожаю, кліматичні умови регіону вирощування [4]. Ефективність вирощування аспарагусу залежить від строків надходження ранньої продукції, коли ціна реалізації є максимальною.…”