Fine structure and gelatinization and pasting properties relationships among starches from pigmented potatoes.

Chain length distribution (CLD) is one of fine structural parameters of starch, playing significant roles in determining starch physicochemical properties. In this study, six pigmented potato cultivars were used to explore the relationship between starch structural properties and starch functional properties. It was found that the amylose content, the peak height of amylose ( h AM ) and the first peak height of amylopectin ( h AP1 ) significantly differed, whereas the other structure parameters had small variations among the potato starches. The average length of amylopectin side chains varied from 24.8 to 26.4 degree of polymerization (DP), and fractions fa, fb 1 , fb 2 and fb 3 of amylopectin showed no significant difference. A wide variation in the starch pasting and thermal properties was observed. Correlation analysis indicated that the pasting properties were affected by the fine structures of both amylose and amylopectin, while the thermal properties were only affected by the amylopectin fine structure. These results contribute to our understanding the structure-function relationships among potato starches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]