Ryegrass seed starch

Abstract

To provide means for improving the physical characteristics of food without altering its inherent taste or texture.SOLUTION: The present invention provides a starch derived from the seeds of plants in the genus Lolium or Festuca, a food or feed additive composition containing the starch, and food or feed containing the composition.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a novel starch, a food or feed additive composition containing the starch, and a food or feed containing the composition. By adding the starch of the present invention, the physical properties of the food or feed can be improved without changing the original taste or mouthfeel of the food or feed. [Background technology]

[0002] It is well known that starch contained in plants exhibits various characteristics depending on the particle size of the starch granules, amylose content, etc. (Non-Patent Document 1). Food products that utilize the differences in each of these characteristics have been developed so far. In general, when trying to improve the shape retention of a paste-like material obtained by adding water to a powdery food ingredient such as wheat flour, polysaccharides such as cellulose and chemically modified starch are often used, but there is a high possibility that the original taste and mouthfeel of the material will change due to the use of foreign additives. Recently, there has been a movement to improve shape retention by adding starch derived from different crops by utilizing the above-mentioned differences in characteristics (Non-Patent Document 2). However, natural crop-derived starch alone lacks diversity, and there are limitations to imparting the desired properties. In addition, various starches exist in plants other than crops, but it is often difficult to procure them in large quantities for practical use. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0003] [Non-Patent Document 1] Kara et al., Properties of starch granules from different plant origins, Kinki University Agricultural Research Institute Bulletin, 1998, 6:83-89. [Non-Patent Document 2] Zheng et al., The characteristics of starch gels molded by 3D printing. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation Vol.43(7),2019. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] As mentioned above, polysaccharides such as cellulose and chemically modified starch have been used to improve the shape retention and other properties of foods, but the use of these can change the original taste and mouthfeel of the food. The present invention was made under such circumstances, and aims to provide a means for improving the physical properties of food without changing the original taste and mouthfeel of the food. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] As a result of extensive research into solving the above problems, the inventors discovered that the physical properties of food, such as shape retention, can be improved by adding starch derived from ryegrass seeds to food, and completed the present invention based on this finding. That is, the present invention provides the following (1) to (8).

[0006] (1) Starch derived from the seeds of a plant belonging to the genus Lolium or Festuca.

[0007] (2) The starch according to (1), characterized in that the plant belonging to the genus Lolium or Festuca is Italian ryegrass, perennial ryegrass, meadow fescue, or tall fescue.

[0008] (3) The starch according to (1), characterized in that the plant belonging to the genus Lolium or Festuca is Italian ryegrass.

[0009] (4) A food or feed additive composition, comprising the starch according to any one of (1) to (3).

[0010] (5) A food or feed additive composition according to (4), which is added to improve the shape retention of food or feed.

[0011] (6) A food comprising the food or feed additive composition according to (4).

[0012] (7) The food according to (6), characterized in that the food is a paste-like food.

[0013] (8) A feed comprising the food or feed additive composition according to (4). Effect of the Invention

[0014] The present invention provides a novel starch, the addition of which can improve the physical properties of foods and feeds without changing the original taste and texture of the foods and feeds. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] Microscopic images of ryegrass starch and Koshihikari starch. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 shows the amylopectin chain length distribution of ryegrass starch and Koshihikari starch. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 shows the measurement results of the viscosity characteristics of ryegrass starch and Koshihikari starch. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 shows the measurement results of the gelatinization properties of ryegrass starch and Koshihikari starch. [Diagram 5] Photographs showing the results of paste shape retention tests. [Figure 6] Micrograph of ryegrass starch. [Figure 7] A diagram showing the amylopectin chain length distribution of ryegrass starch and koshihikari starch. Six bars are shown for each DP value, which (from the left) represent the values ​​for koshihikari starch, Italian ryegrass starch, other Italian ryegrass starch, meadow fescue starch, perennial ryegrass starch, and tall fescue starch. [Figure 8] A graph showing the difference in peak area with Koshihikari starch at each DP value. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 shows the measurement results of the viscosity characteristics of ryegrass starch and Koshihikari starch. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 shows the measurement results of the gelatinization properties of ryegrass starch and Koshihikari starch. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 shows the results of compression tests on ryegrass starch and Koshihikari starch. [Figure 12] Photographs showing the results of paste shape retention tests. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The present invention will be described in detail below. The starch of the present invention is characterized in that it is derived from the seeds of a plant belonging to the genus Lolium or Festuca.

[0017] Examples of plants belonging to the genus Lolium include Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), hybrid ryegrass (Lolium x hybridum Hausskn.), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), and barley (Lolium temulentum L.), while examples of plants belonging to the genus Festuca include meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds.), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), and sheep fescue (Festuca ovina L.). Among these plants, preferred examples include Italian ryegrass, perennial ryegrass, meadow fescue, and tall fescue.

[0018] Preparation of starch from seeds can be carried out according to known methods (e.g., the method described in Kara et al., Properties of Starch Granules of Different Plant Origins, Kinki University Agricultural Research Institute Report, 6:83-89, 1998). For example, seed-derived starch can be prepared by repeatedly immersing hulled seeds in an alkaline solution and removing the supernatant after crushing the seeds.

[0019] The food or feed additive composition of the present invention is characterized by containing the above-mentioned starch of the present invention. Here, the "food or feed additive composition" refers to a composition that is added to food or feed in order to improve the physical properties of the food or feed.

[0020] The food or feed additive composition of the present invention may consist solely of the starch of the present invention, or may contain other ingredients. The starch contained in the food or feed additive composition of the present invention may be refined or unrefined, for example, seed flour or a particle size fraction of seed flour with a high starch content.

[0021] The food or feed additive composition of the present invention is added for the purpose of improving the physical properties of food or feed. Specifically, it is added for the following purposes. 1) It is added to improve the dispersibility and smoothness of paste-like foods or feed. 2) Added for the purpose of maintaining the shape of food or feed (improving shape retention). 3) It is added to improve the ease of handling of paste-like foods or feed. 4) It is added to improve the ejection properties, moldability, and shape retention when used with 3D printers.

[0022] The food or feed to which the food or feed additive composition of the present invention is added is not particularly limited, but a paste-like food or feed is preferred. The food or feed to which the composition is added is preferably a food or feed containing starch, such as wheat flour, rice flour, corn flour, potato flour, etc. However, the composition may be added to a food or feed containing almost no starch, such as soybean flour.

[0023] The amount of the food or feed additive composition of the present invention added is not particularly limited as long as it is an amount that can improve the physical properties of the food or feed, but it is preferable to add it so that the content of the starch of the present invention in the food or feed is, for example, 2 to 10% by weight. EXAMPLES

[0024] The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

[0025] Example 1 Materials and Methods Starch preparation The ryegrass seeds used as raw material were commercially available Italian ryegrass seeds (Waseaoba, Takii Seed Co., Ltd.). 120 g of seeds were hulled by slow stirring and then crushed with a 1 mm mesh screen in a centrifugal crusher (ZM-100, Recce). The fraction containing a large amount of seed coat was then removed by sieving, and 30 g of the fraction that passed through a 180 μm mesh sieve was used for starch purification.

[0026] 30 grams of the above sieved fraction was immersed in 240 mL of 0.2% sodium hydroxide solution, left to stand at 4°C for 16 hours, and then centrifuged at 5000×g, 4°C, and 10 minutes. The supernatant was discarded, and the colored layer on the top of the precipitate was scraped off, and while suspended in 120 mL of sodium hydroxide solution, it was passed through a 90 μm sieve to collect the passing fraction. 120 mL of sodium hydroxide solution was added to the passing fraction, and after shaking for 1 hour, it was centrifuged at 5000×g, 4°C, and 10 minutes. The supernatant was discarded, and the colored layer on the top of the precipitate was scraped off, and while suspended in 120 mL of water, it was passed through a 63 μm sieve to collect the passing fraction. 120 mL of water was added to the passing fraction, and after shaking for 1 hour, it was centrifuged at 5000×g, 4°C, and 10 minutes. Again, the supernatant was discarded, water was added, and the mixture was shaken and centrifuged for washing. 300 mL of water was added to the precipitate, and 1M hydrochloric acid was added until the pH reached 6.8 to neutralize the precipitate. The washing procedure was repeated six more times. As the washing proceeded, the precipitate became more difficult to precipitate, so the centrifugation conditions were changed to 10,000×g and 15 minutes. The precipitate was spread out on a tray and dried overnight in a dryer at 40°C. Finally, 16.2 g of starch was recovered.

[0027] Microscopic observation The sample was suspended in a small amount of water, placed on a slide glass, and observed at 400x magnification using an optical microscope (CKX41, Olympus).

[0028] Amylose content measurement by iodine colorimetric method (apparent amylose content) 2 mL of 1 M sodium hydroxide solution was added to 20 mg of sample, heated to dissolve, neutralized with 1 M acetic acid, and made up to 10 mL with water to give a sample solution.

[0029] 0.2 mL of iodine solution (0.2% iodine, 2% potassium iodide) and 4 mL of water were added to 0.4 mL of the sample solution, mixed thoroughly to develop color, and the absorbance at 620 nm was measured. A calibration curve was prepared using samples in which potato amylose and rice amylopectin were mixed in any ratio, and the amylose content was calculated.

[0030] Amylose content by ConA method Using Megazyme's Amylose / Amylopectin Assay kit, amylopectin was precipitated and removed with concanavalin A (ConA) according to the attached manual, and the remaining amylose fraction and total starch sample were enzymatically hydrolyzed. Glucose in each sample was then colorimetrically quantified using glucose oxidase / peroxidase reagent to calculate the amylose concentration.

[0031] Amylopectin chain length distribution analysis 5 U of isoamylase (Megazyme) was added to 1 mL of a 0.1% solution of the sample (50 mM sodium acetate buffer, pH 4.0, containing 0.1% sodium azide) and debranched by reacting for 16 hours at 40°C. After the reaction, ammonia was added to neutralize, and 1% sodium borohydride was added to react for 16 hours to reduce the mixture, which was then freeze-dried to obtain a sample for analysis.

[0032] The sample was dissolved by adding 1 M sodium hydroxide and stirring occasionally for 1 hour, then diluted 10 times with water and passed through a 0.22 μm filter to prepare a sample for chromatography. Chromatography was performed using a Thermo Fisher Scientific ion chromatograph ICS-5000+ system under the following conditions. The column used was an anion exchange column Dionex CarboPac PA1 (Thermo Fisher Scientific) column φ4×250 mm with a guard column φ4×50 mm. 25 μL of sample was introduced, and the eluent was run at a flow rate of 1 mL / min using a program that increased the sodium acetate concentration from 50 mM to 500 mM over 60 minutes in 0.1 M sodium hydroxide solution. A pulsed amperometric detector using a gold electrode was used for detection. Chromatography was controlled and analyzed using Thermo Fisher Scientific Dionex Chromeleon Chromatography Data System software. The chains cleaved by isoamylase were separated by degree of polymerization by chromatography, so the areas of the peaks for each chain length were compared.

[0033] Measurement of viscosity characteristics Measurements were performed using a Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA4, Newport Scientific, Warriewood, Australia). The moisture content of the starch samples was measured using a heat-drying moisture meter (MS-70, A&D Co., Ltd.) and calculated from the weight at which the mass change rate at 135°C was 2% or less per 60 seconds.

[0034] The sample weight was 3.0 g as a dry weight, and water was added so that the total weight including the moisture in the sample was 25 g. Water was placed in an RVA can, and the starch sample was added on top of it, and the sample was dispersed by rotating the paddle up and down. The sample was set in the RVA machine and the viscosity was measured. The measurement conditions were the standard method. The initial conditions were 50°C, dispersion at 960 rpm for 10 seconds from the start, then 160 rpm, held at 50°C for 1 minute, then heated to 95°C at 12°C / min, held at 95°C for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, then cooled to 50°C at 12°C / min, and held at 50°C for 2 minutes. The viscosity was measured for 13 minutes using a program that included the following: viscosity rise start temperature, maximum viscosity, breakdown, setback, and final viscosity for each sample.

[0035] Measurement of gelatinization properties Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC8000, Perkin-Elmer, Waltham, MS, USA) Approximately 15 mg of sample and three times the amount of water were added to a 70 μL sample pan and sealed, after which the change in heat was measured as the sample temperature was raised from 4°C to 140°C at 10°C / min. Perkin-Elmer's Pyris software was used for analysis, and the following parameters were obtained: gelatinization onset temperature To (°C), gelatinization peak temperature Tp (°C), gelatinization end temperature Tc (°C), and gelatinization enthalpy ΔH (J / g starch).

[0036] 〔result〕 As a difference from the conventional technology, the characteristics were compared with starch derived from rice (Koshihikari). First, microscopic observation revealed that the size of the starch granules was about a few μm, even smaller than rice starch, which is said to be the smallest among grains (Fig. 1). This characteristic is useful for improving the dispersibility and smoothness of the paste. Next, the amylose content and amylopectin chain length distribution, which determine the properties of starch, were measured. It was found that the amylose content of Koshihikari starch was 16.0%, while that of ryegrass starch was 24.4%, which was higher, and that the amylopectin had few short chains with a degree of polymerization of 10 or less, and a large proportion of medium chains with a degree of polymerization of about 10 to 30 (Fig. 2). Furthermore, the results of the viscosity characteristic test (Figs. 3 and 4) revealed that this starch has the characteristic that the viscosity does not increase easily during gelatinization, and that it quickly hardens and hardens.

[0037] Example 2 〔method〕 The starch sample and potato powder (dried mashed potato, Calbee Hokkaido Jaga Mash) were mixed in the ratios shown in the table below, placed in an RVA can, and a paste was made using the same program as used for RVA measurement. [Table 1] The paste was filled into a 20 mL syringe and, after cooling to room temperature, 10 layers were squeezed out in a spiral fashion to draw a cylinder with a diameter of approximately 1.5 cm, and observed after 20 minutes.

[0038] 〔result〕 Cylinder 1, formed from a paste made only from potato flour, spread and sank after 20 minutes (Figure 5). Cylinders 2 and 3, formed from pastes in which 1 g (5% by weight) of the potato flour was replaced with starch, both had improved shape retention (Figure 5). Cylinder 3, in particular, which was replaced with ryegrass starch, spread and sank less than Koshihikari starch 2, and maintained the shape it had when squeezed out.

[0039] Example 3 Starch preparation Starch was prepared from Italian ryegrass seeds, perennial ryegrass seeds, meadow fescue seeds, and tall fescue seeds. The starch was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. Regarding Italian ryegrass, starch was prepared not only from the seeds used in Example 1 (Waseaoba, Takii Seed Co., Ltd.), but also from seeds purchased from another company (hereinafter, this Italian ryegrass may be referred to as "other company's Italian ryegrass").

[0040] Microscopic observation Microscopic observation of each starch was carried out in the same manner as in Example 1 (FIG. 6). When the starch granules were observed in the micrographs, they all had the same characteristics of being small and fine.

[0041] Amylose content determination The amylose content of each starch was measured in the same manner as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 2. [Table 2]

[0042] As shown in Table 2, the amylose content of all the prepared starches was higher than that of Koshihikari starch. In particular, the amylose content of perennial ryegrass starch was high.

[0043] Amylopectin chain length distribution analysis The amylopectin chain length distribution of each starch was analyzed in the same manner as in Example 1. The results are shown in Figure 7. In order to more clearly show the chain length distribution, a graph showing the difference in each peak area from Koshihikari is shown in Figure 8. As shown in these figures, all starches showed the same characteristics as shown in Figure 2, that is, low DP6-8 and high DP9-15.

[0044] Measurement of viscosity characteristics The viscosity characteristics of each starch were measured in the same manner as in Example 1 (Figure 9). In comparison with Koshihikari, all starches showed the same behavior as shown in Figure 3, that is, a higher viscosity rise starting temperature, a higher final viscosity, and a higher setback value.

[0045] Measurement of gelatinization properties The gelatinization properties of each starch were measured in the same manner as in Example 1 (FIG. 10). Each starch showed a curve and peak values ​​different from those of Koshihikari starch, and showed a curve and peak values ​​similar to those of Italian ryegrass starch shown in FIG.

[0046] Measurement of compression load value A starch gel was made by adding water to 3.0 g of starch (dry weight) so that the total weight was 25 g. A compression test was conducted one day after the gel was made, and the load value at 50% compression was measured (Figure 11). All starches showed higher values ​​than Koshihikari starch, and the gels were harder. The load value of perennial ryegrass starch was particularly high.

[0047] Example 4 〔method〕 The starch sample and potato powder (dried mashed potato, Calbee Hokkaido Jaga Mash) were mixed in the ratios shown in the table below, placed in an RVA can and heated using the same program as used for RVA measurement. When the temperature reached 80°C during cooling, the machine was stopped and the can was removed to prepare a paste. [Table 3] The prepared paste was immediately loaded into the syringe (nozzle diameter 1.5 mm) of a food printer (FOODINI, Natural Machines), and molded into 20 mm-tall cylinders and star-shaped cylinders using the built-in program. The shapes were then observed and measured after 10 minutes.

[0048] 〔result〕 The cylinders and star-shaped cylinders formed from paste made with only potato flour or paste made by replacing some of the potato flour with koshihikari starch sunk towards the center and were rounded at the top (Figure 12). On the other hand, the cylinders formed from paste made with Italian ryegrass or other starch had improved shape retention and showed less sinking in the center. Furthermore, as shown in Table 4, both the cylinders and star-shaped cylinders formed from paste made with only potato flour or koshihikari starch had larger diameters and smaller heights than those formed from starches such as Italian ryegrass. [Table 4] [Industrial Applicability]

[0049] The present invention can be used in the food and feed related industries.

Claims

1. 1. A starch derived from the seeds of a plant belonging to the genus Lolium or Festuca.

2. 2. The starch according to claim 1, wherein the plant belonging to the genus Lolium or Festuca is Italian ryegrass, perennial ryegrass, meadow fescue, or tall fescue.

3. 2. The starch according to claim 1, wherein the plant belonging to the genus Lolium or Festuca is Italian ryegrass.

4. A food or feed additive composition comprising the starch according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. 5. The food or feed additive composition according to claim 4, which is added to improve the shape retention of food or feed.

6. A food comprising the food or feed additive composition according to claim 4.

7. 7. The food product according to claim 6, which is a paste-like food product.

8. A feed comprising the food or feed additive composition according to claim 4.

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