Use of wheat bran arabinoxylans in chitosan-based films: Effect on physicochemical properties

• Chitosan-based films with different fractions of arabinoxylans (AXs) were evaluated.
• Wheat bran AXs can be successfully incorporated into chitosan-based edible films.
• Chitosan-based films with AXs or AXOS have extra value, due to their health benefits.

The aim of this work was to evaluate physicochemical properties of chitosan-based films with different fractions of arabinoxylans (AXs). Five fractions composed by AXs or mixtures of AXs and arabino-xylo-oligosaccharides (AXOS) obtained through three different processes were added to chitosan-based films. These films were obtained by solvent casting and characterized in terms of water vapor permeability (WVP), opacity, thickness, moisture content and mechanical properties (i.e., tensile strength – TS and elongation at break – EB), being the chemical interactions evaluated by FTIR.Moisture content values ranged between 20 and 30% for all five studied films being the lowest value observed for chitosan films with the fraction F1 of AX/AXOS (21.1%). The films with incorporation of F3a, F3b and F4 AXs fraction were more opaque (>10%) than the other studied films. Regarding mechanical properties CH films presented EB and TS values of 31.26% and 8.25 MPa, respectively, both these values remain statistically equal with the incorporation of AX/AXOS except for films containing the fraction F1 and F2. For films with the F2 fraction were obtained higher values of EB (41.31%) while for CH films containing the F1 fraction the TS values (13.07 MPa) increased.In conclusion, wheat bran AXs can be successfully incorporated into chitosan-based edible films providing, together with chitosan, an extra functional value to films, due their health benefits.