Abstract:
'Ginseng Jawa' (Talinum paniculatum) is an underutilized plant scattered throughout
tropical Malaysia which is commonly can be found at every home as decoration purposes.
The plant also can be taken as a supplementary food. 'Ginseng Jawa' is known to contain
available amount of mucilage especially in young stems and leaves. This study was
undertaken to determine yield and antioxidant activities of mucilage extracted from
'Ginseng Jawa'. There were three extraction methods performed in this study namely hot
water extraction method, alkaline extraction method and acidic extraction method. Main
chemicals used in those extractions were sodium hydroxide for alkaline extraction, acetic
acid for acidic extraction and water for hot water extraction method. The result showed
that alkaline extraction method provided the highest mucilage yield (1.99%) followed by
hot water extraction (1.61 %) and the lowest yield obtained from acidic extraction
(1.00%). There was significant difference (p < 0.05) for yield of mucilage extracted
using alkaline extraction method and acidic extraction method. The mucilage obtained
from each extraction method was examined for antioxidant activities using 1,1-diphenyl2-picrylhydrazyl
(DPPH),
P-anisidine,
Ferric
thiocyanate
(FTC)
and
Thiobarbituric
acid
(TBA)
methods. Result showed that mucilage from acidic extraction exhibited the
highest percentage of DPPH scavenging activity (65.02%) followed by hot water, gum
Arabic and base mucilage (55.11 % - 26.64%). There were significant differences (p <
0.05) among mucilage extracted using all methods including gum Arabic. For FTC and
TBA analyses, mucilage from alkaline extraction showed the highest percentage of
linoleic acid oxidation inhibition (25.60% and 59.99% respectively) and also gives the
lowest value in p-anisidine analysis (0.42). In conclusion, it was found that alkaline
extraction was the most suitable method for 'Ginseng Jawa' mucilage extraction as well
as provided the mucilage with good antioxidant properties.
