The Usage of Plant Starch

Deep in the system of plants such as in its leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, stem or roots is the plant’s starch that is formed in the organelles of plant cells such as the chloroplasts in plants with green leaves that performs its starch production rapidly; and in amyloplasts that are commonly found in root crops in which starch reserves are deposited over several days or weeks, having its starch storage being mobilized during seed germination, fruit maturation or sprouting of tubers. Starch is the most abundant carbohydrate in plants and that it is used by plants as its source of carbon and energy.

Starch has several uses in the society. Firstly, as it comes from the plants that living things consume, it serves as a source of carbohydrate in a balanced diet. While on the other hand, it acts as a renewable element in the industrial world, making it useful to the humans as well as in the commercial world. Relating its usefulness in the world of industry, its versatility ranges from being a thickening agent in processed foods, as it gelatinizes leading to formation of pastes when heated in water; up to the non-food category for it can be produced as paper or board in some companies, packaging materials in some other factories and biodegradable plastics as well.

Throughout the years, starch is progressively used in much industrial utilization even as a renewable energy source in the economy. Developing technologies and methods had increased the use of wastes especially in plants that make the starchy biomass a consequential proxy element in various usages in several inventions due to its usefulness, versatility, accessibility, and low-cost quality. Cereals contain 40-90% of starch, roots with 30-70%, and tubers or potatoes up to 65-85%, legumes from 25-50%, and some unripe fruits like bananas or mangoes that approximately contains 70% of starch in dry weight. Starches are useful in today’s container production and other biodegradable materials that emerge together with today’s developments because of its accessibility and economic-friendly quality compared to other polymers. Starches evidently draw much attention from packaging industries for its low-cost natural source of polymer that is useful in the production of bioplastics. They are digestible by microorganisms, making its biodegradability excellent and environmental friendly. Also, starches produce hydrophilic bioplastics because of their hydroxyl end groups.

Potatoes, a well-known root crop, are known to have originated from the tropical areas particularly in Andes of South America where it is prominently known to be the number one cultivated crop in the area. However, potatoes have a high adaptive nature, making it being able to grow anywhere in the world in all climates, being the second place in the top crops grown in greatest number of countries in the world. A potato contains an approximate of 18% starch, 1% cellulose, and 81% water, and contains dissolved organic compounds like protein and carbohydrates, such that harvesting of potatoes has a great impact as it plays a role in maintaining a low level of damage to the tubers.

On the other hand, along the lands of the tropical and subtropical countries inhabits a plentiful species of Musa paradisiaca or simply bananas, belonging to the Musaceae family which is abundant in these areas where they are highly cultivated. Bananas, specifically the green unripe banana, contains starch as its major constituent as it undergoes plenty of phases when it ripens. These plants are considered to have a high industrial significance because of their high starch content.

Banana starches have high resistance from heat and are low in amylase content, swelling properties, and solubility in water retrogradation and it has been proven to be more superior in the modified and unmodified corn starch. Thus, have potentially higher market value compared to banana starch.

Starch in banana peels, together with other compounds such as fat, proteins, and carbohydrates, increases with maturity and degrades or declines as soon as it reaches its over-ripening stage.