Órgãos subterrâneos de Espada de São Jorge são fontes promissoras de frutanos

Abstract

Snake plant is a widely cultivated ornamental plant belonging to the Asparagaceae family. The species in this family often have rhizomes as storage organs, and fructans as the main stored nonstructural carbohydrates. These compounds are sucrose-derived fructose polymers. Due to their various benefits, they are of great interest to the food and pharmaceutical industries. The objective of this work was to quantify the nonstructural carbohydrate contents and to verify the presence of fructans in snake plant rhizomes and roots. For this, the belowground organs of plants cultivated in a flower bed, but not irrigated, were collected. Water content and soluble carbohydrate content in both organs were evaluated. The rhizomes of the species had higher water content and soluble carbohydrate content than the roots. Qualitative analyzes of soluble carbohydrates by high performance anion exchange chromatography showed the presence of fructans in both organs, with a profile similar to that observed in onion bulb extracts. We conclude that the belowground organs of snake plant store fructans with diversified structures that correspond to the inulin neoseries and that especially the rhizomes of this species are promising source for obtaining fructans.