ROS in Emblica officinalis (Amla) and its detection in Emblica officinalis juice (pectinase assisted) and Emblica officinalis probiotic drink

Abstract

The focus of this study was on the Amla and its processing into various useful products. Commercially the processed amla has been available in various purely or mixed (herbal plant extracts) products. Initiative has been carried out to standardize the process of juice extraction by using industrial enzymes or can be called as enzymatic method using ‗pectinase enzyme‘ over mechanical (juicer) extraction method. Amla juice extracted from centrifugal juicer and using pectinase enzyme has been compared in juice extraction rate, overall antioxidant activity, vitamin C, tannins and flavonoids content, sensory characteristics and used for probiotic drink production. The mean values for the juice extraction rates in the case of mechanical and enzymatic methods were 42.63 percent and 78.54 percent, respectively and the pulp leftover was found maximum (35.09%) in case of mechanical method as compared to the enzymatic method (18.51%). The results observed in mechanical (juicer) (92.92 percent, 5.38mg/ml, 9.67mg/ml and 25.7mg/ml), enzymatic method (87.64 percent, 3.56mg/ml, 4.67mg/ml, 27.4mg/ml) and patanjali pure amla juice (94.27 percent, 8.02mg/ml, 10.03mg/ml, 23.5mg/ml) for the total antioxidant activity, vitamin C, tannins and flavonoids. All the three samples were analyzed for the antimicrobial activity against the E.Coli, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces cerevisae and found the positive results. An attempt has been made here to utilize the amla seed/stone waste (source for the growth of Lactobacillus sporogenes) in developing a ‗Probiotic‘ drink using amla juice (juicer and enzymatic method) as a base for the drink along with ‗Stevia‘ a sugar substitute. Among the different combinations made from mechanical and pectinase enzyme extracted juices the P2 (60:40; amla juce: probiotic culture in seed/stone powder) formulation of the drink was observed as the best for the antioxidant properties alongwith the alive probiotic culture and sensory characteristics. Keeping the concentration of stevia tablet (0.5mg/ml) constant in all the drinks the cfu/ml of Lactobacillus sporogenes in P2 observed was 2.61×108 that meets the recommended cfu/ml (107 -109 ) in the probiotic drinks. As a whole pectinase enzyme method was found the best with double juice extraction rate to mechanical (juicer) method in case of amla juice with good retention of flavonoids in comparison to other antioxidant properties. The 100 percent utilization can be possible of amla using pectinase enzyme for juice and pure amla based probiotic drink production as the waste generated would be least in percentage.