Composição física, química, toxicidade e aproveitamento alternativo da Terminalia Catappa Linn.

Abstract

Originally from India, the castanets, whose scientific name is Terminalia catappa Linn, a species of the family of Combretáceas, is an exotic tree distributed in coastal regions and well adapted to the climate conditions and soils of Brazil, including in the semi-arid northeast. While it is widespread in Brazilian soil, studies of the species are still quite scarce in the literature. Chemical components present in T. catappa pharmaceutically can be beneficial, but may come to present toxicity to animals that may use it as food. This study aimed to characterize physically and chemically the fruit and assess the toxicological potential of castanets leaves (Terminalia cappata Linn) using the bioassay Leach brine shrimp, and to identify the possibility of using the pulp of the fruit as natural acid identifier and base. All analyzes were performed at the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Food (UFCG /CES). Castanet of the fruits used for this study were collected from adult trees of public roads in the city of Cuité - PB, located in Curimataú region. The physical characteristics of the fruit in natura determined in the study were: total mass, pulp mass, core mass, almond mass, height, width and density in water and oil. Chemical analysis of water content were held, pH, titratable acidity, mineral residue, ° Brix and mineral contents. We used alcohol and aqueous extracts of castanet the fruit pulp to identify different pHs, for color display. Also determined the lethal concentration 50% (CL50) of the ethanol extract of the leaf castanets, as a parameter of toxicity. The pulp of the fruit of the castanet presented 87.39% of water content, pH of 4.67, a titratable acidity of 9.3% and the sheet showed a castanet water content 77.31%, pH 4.57 and titratable acidity of 10.29%. The soluble solids content for the fruit of castanets 7.75 ° Brix. The sheet showed high castanet mineral values, especially K (41.24%), Ca (32.84%) and Fe (15.02%), and these yields considerably sharp for feeding. The crude extract (alcoholic and aqueous) of the castanet fruit pulp assume different colorings that can be identified by visual observation, if definindo- pH ranges depending on the color of the resulting solution. For leaf castanets found yourself a CL50 value of 452.573 μg.mL-1. Thus the evaluation of toxicity tested opposite saline A. showed moderate toxicity, but more specific bioassays should be encouraged to confirm these findings