Hemicelluloses determination

Further research is directed to the determination of the fine-structure of the pectins and hemicelluloses isolated from soy meal, using chromatography and degradation with specific enzymes. With these results a model of the polysaccharides present in the cell wall of soy will be formulated. Furthermore, application directed experiments will be performed to obtain information about structure-function relationships. 

Rha, Ara and Gal are the neutral sugar components from all the fractions. Xyl is not present in Fla and is significantly present in the hemicellulose fractions, indicating that this monosaccharide is component of hemicellulosic polymers. Chemical composition of the water fractions were determined (Table V). High protein contents and the presence of O-acetyl-groups were observed in four aqueous fractions. Neutral sugar and uronic acid composition points to inclusion of these polymers in the class of pectic polysaccharides. 

Wood is a composite material that is made, up basically of a mixture of three main constituents, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin (see Textbox 54), all of them biopolymers synthesized by the plants, which differ from one another in composition and structure (see Textbox 58). The physical properties of any type of wood are determined by the nature of the tree in which the wood grows, as well as on the environmental conditions in which the tree grows. Some of the properties, such as the density of wood from different types of trees, are extremely variable, as can be appreciated from the values listed in Table 71. No distinctions as to the nature of a wood, whether it is a hardwood or a softwood, for example, can be drawn from the value of its specific gravity. 

For monitoring the extent of polysaccharide hydrolysis, l.c. methods that sepeu ate and analyze the non-fermentable oligosaccharides (d.p. 3-30) derived from cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectins are useful, and have already been described (see Section III,l,c). For determination of the monosaccharide composition of completely hydrolyzed, plant polysaccharides, l.c. is especially useful and has been applied to the compositional analysis of hydrolyzed plant fiber,wood pulps,plant cell-walls,and cotton fibers.In these representative examples, the major sugars of interest, namely, glucose, xylose, galactose, arabinose, and mannose, have traditionally been difficult to resolve by l.c. The separa-... 

Most often, the rates for feedstock destruction in anaerobic digestion systems are based upon biogas production or reduction of total solids (TS) or volatile solids (VS) added to the system. Available data for analyses conducted on the specific polymers in the anaerobic digester feed are summarized in Table II. The information indicates a rapid rate of hydrolysis for hemicellulose and lipids. The rates and extent of cellulose degradation vary dramatically and are different with respect to the MSW feedstock based on the source and processing of the paper and cardboard products (42). Rates for protein hydrolysis are particularly difficult to accurately determine due the biotransformation of feed protein into microbial biomass, which is representative of protein in the effluent of the anaerobic digestion system. 

Extraction of the cellulase system. The culture of SSF from each flask (originally 5 g of substrate) was mixed well with more water to bring the final weight of the mixture (mycelium plus unutilized lignin, cellulose, and hemicelluloses) to 100 g. Tween 80 was added at a rate of 0.1%. The mixture was shaken for 0.5 h and centrifuged. The supernatant was used for enzyme determination. We estimated that about 7% to 10% cellulases remained adsorbed on the residues (mycelium and unutilized cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin) when the residues were suspended in water and Tween 80 as before and the supernatant was tested for cellulase titer. 

Hardwood xylans and xylans of annual plants may contain up to 7% O-bound acetyl groups. Seven out of ten xylose residues in native hardwood xylan are acetylated on C-2 and/or C-3 (10). Because of the possible migration of O-acetyl groups between 2- and 3-positions during and after isolation of hemicellulose components, it is difficult to determine their original distribution in nature (11). The ratios reported for 2-, 3-, and 2,3-positions of acetyl groups in birch xylan have been 2 4 1 (3) and 2 2 1 (10) and in bracatinga xylan 3 3 1 (12). 

This is based on the method by Van Soest and Wine (1967) which has been modified according to subsequent recommendations. It is the only fibre determination suitable for non-ruminants. The residue consists of the plant cell-wall constituents cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, cutin, NDF-insoluble tannin and ash. See the article by Cherney (2000) for current modifications these include the use of amylase to aid in the removal of starch from forages containing grain (Van Soest et al., 1991), which has been adopted by MAFF... 

Lignin is a complex phenolic cell wall polymer that is chemically cross-linked with hemicellulose and cell wall proteins. Most of the methods to determine lignin content are based on the removal of all other cell wall constituents, typically through acid hydrolysis, which will readily remove hemicellulose under mild conditions, and non-crystalline cellulose under more severe conditions. Several different methods will be discussed below. The different methods have also been extensively reviewed and compared by Hatfield et al. (1994), Brinkmann et al. (2002), Fukushima and Hatfield (2004), and Hatfield and Fukushima (2005). 

The hemicellulose fraction of plant food and feed materials appears to be of considerably greater importance in determining nutritional value of such foods and feeds than has been generally recognized. 

Although most polysaccharides may be acylated without degradation, acyl derivatives of xylans29 are often unsatisfactory for molecular-weight determinations owing to their poor solubility characteristics. Mixed esters of xylans143 are often superior in this respect, but there are obvious difficulties in the differential analysis of acyl groups. Hemicellulose nitrates have been used for measurements of molecular size,168 but xylan nitrates,29 like xylan acetates, are reported to have poor solubility characteristics. 

The results of molecular-weight determinations on hemicelluloses need to be interpreted in the light of comments made earlier (see p. 461) regarding the degrees of heterogeneity possible in polysaccharides of this type. 

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