During cooking of cassava tubers starch gelatinizes and there are physical-chemical alterations in cell wall material, reducing intercellular cohesion and softening the tissue, playing an important role in cooking time. Cell wall material from tubers at two harvesting ages of two cultivars were isolated, fractionated and evaluated. Starch was eliminated by wet sieving and enzymatic hydrolysis and the cell wall material was fractionated into cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin. Quantitatively cellulose had the highest concentration varying from 57.2 to 70% of the initial isolated cell wall material, followed by pectin and hemicellulose. Cell wall material isolated decreased with the age of the roots and cellulose concentration decreased in the older roots. Pectin fraction differed in sugar concentration between roots of different ages, higher in older roots while for uronic acid content there were differences for age of roots and cultivars.
cell walls; cellulose; pectin; hemicellulose; cassava (Manihoc sculenta)
