Optimization of a simple, accurate and low cost method for starch quantification in green microalgae

Botanical Studies

Table 1 Effects of autoclaving temperature and enzymatic digestion duration on the accuracy of starch measurement using this method

	Starch raw weight (μg)	Starch net weight (μg)^e	Starch quantity measured by this method (μg)	Accuracy (%)	Mean ± SD
121 °C autoclave and single digestion	15,458	13,186	12,037	91.3
	15,555	13,268	12,266	92.5
	15,227	12,989	11,769	90.6
	15,237	12,997	11,479	88.3	90.7 ± 1.7^a (n = 4)
121 °C autoclave andouble digestions	20,462	17,454	16,762	96.0
	24,678	21,050	19,542	92.8
	29,582	25,233	23,455	93.0
	32,898	28,062	25,863	92.2	93.5 ± 1.7^a,b (n = 4)
134 °C autoclave and single digestion^f	20,593	17,566	16,133	91.9
	21,107	18,004	17,596	97.7
	26,987	23,020	21,999	95.6
	30,476	25,996	24,779	95.3
	35,679	30,434	28,459	93.5	94.8 ± 2.2^b,c (n = 5)
134 °C autoclave and double digestions^f	20,593	17,556	17,282	98.4
	21,107	18,004	17,760	98.6
	26,987	23,020	23,089	100.3
	30,476	25,996	25,461	97.9
	35,679	30,434	30,149	99.1	98.9 ± 0.9^d (n = 5)

The letters a, b, c and d after mean ± SD indicate significant difference (p < 0.05, t-test)
^eThe net weight excluded the weight of the water, protein and fiber in the corn starch
^fThe samples after autoclaving were split for single digestion and double digestions