Studies on the morphological, thermal and crystalline properties of starches separated from medicinal plants

The starches separated from five different medicinal plants-Fritillaria (Fritillaria thunbergii Miq., Fritillaria ussurensis Maxim., Fritillaria pallidifloca Schrenk, Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don and F. hupehensis Hsiao et K.C. Hsia) were investigated for morphological, thermal, crystal, swelling power, solubility and water-binding capacity properties. The thunbergii F. and ussurensis F. starches had a granule size ranging between 5 and 30 μm and the shape of the granules was oval and elliptic, while the other Fritillaria starches had the granule size from 5 to 40 μm and the granule shape varied from oval to irregular or cuboidal. The transition temperatures and enthalpy of gelatinization (ΔHgel) were determined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Cirrhosa F. starch showed the highest ΔHgel values (9.18 J/g) while hupehensis F. starch showed the lowest values (5.90 J/g). All Fritillaria starches showed a typical B-type pattern with the degree of crystallinity of between 43.8% and 52.3%. Cirrhosa F. starch had the highest swelling power and the lowest solubility while the values for hupehensis F. starch were contrary. Hupehensis F. starch showed the highest water binding capacity and it was the lowest for pallidifloca F. starch.