Intra-species variation of the properties of gum exudates from two Acacia species of the series Gummiferae

Gum exudates from Acacia drepanolobium and A. kirkii ssp. kirkii var. kirkii from Tanzania have been analyzed and the intra-species variation of their properties evaluated. The results show that inter-species variation of the properties of the gum exudates from the two species exist, whereas only some parameters show intra-species variation. The specific optical rotations of the gum exudates varied from +72.0° to +94.6° for A. drepanolobium and +29.2° to +38.0°, for A. kirkii ssp. kirkii var. kirkii. Likewise, the acid equivalent weights (AEWs) varied from 832 to 1659 for A. drepanolobium and 663 to 1199 for A. kirkii ssp. kirkii var. kirkii. Intra-species variation for the tannin content was also observed for the species studied, whereas no intra-species variation was observed for the nitrogen and methoxyl contents. The results in this study show that the variation of the properties among the batches of commercial Acacia gum may be due to admixture of gums from different Acacia species, as well as intra-species variation.