Structural Characteristics of Tilapia ( Oreochromis mossambicus ) Bone Gelatin: Effects of Different Liming Methods.

Fish bone is a good source of gelatin. In this study, gelatins were prepared from tilapia bone after the bone was pretreated with alkali protease, desalted immediately by 0.6 mol L−1HCl, and hydrolyzed by papain or limed by Ca(OH)2. Gelatins extracted from papain-treated tilapia bone exhibited space structures similar to those of alkali-treated tilapia bone. Despite this similarity, many differences were observed between these gelatin samples. Compared with alkali-treated gelatin, papain-treated gelatins showed higher values for imino residue content, molecular weight proportion, bloom strength, and viscosity. The bloom strengths of the second and third papain-treated gelatins were 163 and 94 bloom, respectively, which were lower than the bloom strength of the first papain-treated gelatin (189 bloom). The viscosities of the three papain-treated gelatin samples were 4.18, 2.81, and 0.51 mPa.s−1. The first papain-treated gelatin achieved the highest gelling (16 °C) and melting points (23.9 °C). The yields of the first (5.40%) and second (6.71%) papain-treated gelatins were higher than those of the alkali-treated gelatins (3.33 and 5.76%, respectively). However, the yield of the third papain-treated gelatin (2.27%) was lower than that of the third alkali-treated gelatin (5.42%). More importantly, papain hydrolysis can prevent destruction by Ca(OH)2in the bone structure and effectively reduce the denaturation temperature of tilapia bone collagen. Moreover, papain hydrolysis can dramatically reduce the time required for liming (0.8% of traditional liming process spent). Papain hydrolysis is a clean production method that can replace traditional liming. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]