OBTENCIÓN DE BETACAROTENO A PARTIR DEL CAMOTE TOQUECITA (IPOMOEA BATATA).

Introduction: Beta-carotene is a carotenoid present in fruits, and vegetables; it is a precursor of vitamin A. The sweet potato variety "Toquecita" with orange flesh from the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias de Portoviejo, Ecuador, offers multiple health benefits in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Objective: To obtain beta-carotene from the sweet potato variety "Toquecita" (Ipomea batata). Materials and methods: The soxhlet extraction method was used, which consisted of a solid-liquid extraction, using organic solvents, and an adaptation of ultrasound and centrifuge extraction was also used, which takes advantage of the displacement speed to obtain a liquid part and a sedimented part. Results and discussion: Analyses of moisture, ash, protein, lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, and reducing sugars gave results within bibliographical ranges. The presence of beta-carotene in the sweet potato "Toquecita" by the Soxhlet method was 3.962 uG/gbetacarotene in Acetone solvent, 2.452 uG/gbetacarotene in methanol solvent and 6.830 uG/gbetacarotene in hexane solvent. Using the adapted extraction method (ultrasonido-centrifuge), 131.285 mg/g beta-carotene was obtained. Conclusions: With the ultrasound-centrifuge extraction method, it was possible to obtain 131.285 Ug/g of beta-carotene, being thus, the one that obtained the best results within the ranges established by other authors cited in this research, one of the reasons is because this method was not exposed to heat sources or light, thus allowing better performance in obtaining beta-carotene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]