Characterizations of starches isolated from five different Dioscorea L. species

The physicochemical, morphological and crystal structure characterization of the starches separated from rhizomes of Dioscorea opposita Thunb. Dioscorea alata Linn., Dioscorea nipponica Makino, Dioscorea bulbifera Linn. and Dioscorea septemloba Thunb. were studied and compared. Amylose content varied between 13.58% and 20.05%. Water-binding capacity, swelling power, solubility and total starch content of starches differed significantly. Scanning electron micrographs revealed that the surface was smooth or rough, the granules were oval to spherical and the size was obviously different. D. nipponica displayed A-type pattern. D. opposita D. alata, D. septemloba and D. bulbifera starches all exhibited C-type crystal. While the crystallinity degree of the starches separated from the five species were about 33.90%, 37.63%, 43.11%, 32.06% and 53.35%, respectively. The gelatinization transition temperatures (To, Tp and Tc) and enthalpy of gelatinization (ΔHgel) and peak height index (PHI) were determined. D. OT, D. AL and D. BL starches showed the higher enthalpy of gelatinization. Pasting viscosity of D. OT and D. BL starches were much higher than others. The five plants could be separated into two groups: D. OT, D. AL and D. BL; D. ST and D. NM.