Seasonal Analysis of Saponin Content of Leaves of Young Quillaja Saponaria Trees from a Plantation
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PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE ESCUELA DE INGENIERIA SEASONAL ANALYSIS OF SAPONIN CONTENT OF LEAVES OF YOUNG QUILLAJA SAPONARIA TREES FROM A PLANTATION TRINIDAD SCHLOTTERBECK SUAREZ Thesis submitted to the Office of Research and Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Engineering Advisor: RICARDO SAN MARTIN Santiago de Chile, march, 2015 © 2015, Trinidad Schlotterbeck PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE CHILE ESCUELA DE INGENIERIA SEASONAL ANALYSIS OF SAPONIN CONTENT OF LEAVES YOUNG QUILLAJA SAPONARIA TREES IN A PLANTATION TRINIDAD SCHLOTTERBECK SUÁREZ Members of the Committee: RICARDO SAN MARTIN LORETO VALENZUELA MARIO CASTILLO JUAN DE DIOS ORTUZAR Thesis submitted to the Office of Research and Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Engineering Santiago de Chile, march, 2015 To my family, for their unconditional support and company. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I want to thank all my family for their support during all the years at university. Their patience and comprehension helped me finish my studies. I also would like to thank my great advisor, Ricardo San Martín, for his guidance and permanent help during all the activities done for my master’s research. I thank the constant assistance of Mario Castillo, especially during sample collections and analyses developments. I appreciate the commentaries and revisions of Hernán Cañón. I also thank Loreto Valenzuela for teaching me how to structure my research. I specially thank Mr. Hugo Vera and Mr. Patricio Guzman, for allowing me to do the sample collections of their Quillaja Farm and all the analysis required for the development of my master’s research. Thanks to Professor Juan de Dios Ortúzar for his advice as member of the committee and his kind comments when reviewing the manuscript. iii GENERAL INDEX Pág. DEDICATORY ............................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... iii INDICE DE TABLAS ................................................................................................. vi INDICE DE FIGURAS ............................................................................................... vii RESUMEN ................................................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. xi 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 General description of Quillaja saponaria Molina .......................................... 3 1.1.1 Characteristics of growth ........................................................................... 4 1.1.2 Parts of the tree and their biomass contribution ........................................ 7 1.1.3 Biomass functions ..................................................................................... 8 1.2 Quillaja saponins ........................................................................................... 11 1.2.1 Methods of extraction .............................................................................. 13 1.2.2 Uses and economic importance ............................................................... 15 1.2.3 Saponins content in aerial parts of the tree .............................................. 16 2. Hypotheses ........................................................................................................... 19 3. The use of leaves from young trees of Quillaja saponaria (molina) plantations as a new source of saponins ............................................................................................... 20 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Materials and methods ................................................................................... 24 3.2.1 Sample collection .................................................................................... 24 3.2.2 Determination of total tree biomass ........................................................ 25 3.2.3 Extraction and quantification of soluble solids from leaves ................... 25 3.2.4 Quantification and analysis of saponins in leaves ................................... 26 3.2.5 Nutritional analysis of soil ....................................................................... 27 3.2.6 Statistical analysis ................................................................................... 28 3.3 Results and discussion ................................................................................... 28 3.4 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 39 3.5 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... 34 4. Further discussion ................................................................................................ 41 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................... 45 A p p e n d i x .............................................................................................................. 50 5. Appendix A: Images of trees ............................................................................... 51 TABLES INDEX Pág. Table 3-1 Contribution of leaves, branches and trunk of the sampled Quillaja trees . 33 Table 5-1 Comparison between real weight of trees and equations ............................ 43 vi FIGURES INDEX Pág. Figure 1-1 Basic structure of Quillaja saponins ........................................................ 12 Figure 1-2 Annual exportations of Quillaja bark and products .................................. 14 Figure 3-1 Annual distributions of soluble solids in the leaves of the 24 trees .......... 29 Figure 3-2 Soluble solids of leaves in the 24 trees in the four sampling months . ..... 30 Figure 3-3 Annual distributions of saponin content in the leaves of the 24 trees ....... 31 Figure 3-4 Saponin contents of leaves in the 24 trees in the four sampling months .. 32 Figure 5-1 Tree n˚ 1 ................................................................................................... 51 Figure 5-2 Tree n˚ 2 ................................................................................................... 51 Figure 5-3 Tree n˚ 3 ................................................................................................... 51 Figure 5-4 Tree n˚ 4 ................................................................................................... 51 Figure 5-5 Tree n˚ 5 ................................................................................................... 52 Figure 5-6 Tree n˚ 6 ................................................................................................... 52 Figure 5-7 Tree n˚ 7 ................................................................................................... 52 Figure 5-8 Tree n˚ 8 ................................................................................................... 52 Figure 5-9 Tree n˚ 9 ................................................................................................... 53 Figure 5-10 Tree n˚ 10 ............................................................................................... 53 Figure 5-11 Tree n˚ 11 ............................................................................................... 53 Figure 5-12 Tree n˚ 12 ............................................................................................... 53 Figure 5-13 Tree n˚ 13 ............................................................................................... 54 Figure 5-14 Tree n˚ 14 ............................................................................................... 54 vii Figure 5-15 Tree n˚ 15 ............................................................................................... 54 Figure 5-16 Tree n˚ 16 ............................................................................................... 54 Figure 5-17 Tree n˚ 17 ............................................................................................... 55 Figure 5-18 Tree n˚ 18 ............................................................................................... 55 Figure 5-19 Tree n˚ 19 ............................................................................................... 55 Figure 5-20 Tree n˚ 20 ............................................................................................... 55 Figure 5-21 Tree n˚ 21 ............................................................................................... 56 Figure 5-22 Tree n˚ 22 ............................................................................................... 56 Figure 5-23 Tree n˚ 23 ............................................................................................... 56 Figure 5-24 Tree n˚ 24 ............................................................................................... 56 viii RESUMEN El árbol Quillaja saponaria, endémico de Chile, ha sido ampliamente explotado para la