Plant Biomass Seed and Root Mucilage: Extraction and Properties

Plants produce mucilages that can be beneficial to their stress tolerance and the soil environment, with potential to harvest or mimic mucilages to produce soil additives. This chapter covers plantbased mucilages in terms of their importance, extraction and production methods, key physical properties, and application in controlling the properties of soil for agricultural benefits. Several key physical properties of mucilage and its model compounds related to its surface activity and mucilage–soil interactions are described. Mucilages are naturally existing plant-derived polymers that are composed of proteins, uranides, and polysaccharides. They are produced at root tips or as coatings on seeds. These proteins and polysaccharides have physicochemical, rheological, and mechanical properties that can benefit the plant's interaction with soil and have been used to stabilize food and pharmaceutical materials. Here, we extracted mucilage from Basil (Ocimum basilicum), chia (Salvia hispanica), and flax (Linum usitatissimum) seeds. Extracted stock mucilage percentage yields for basil, chia, and flax were 0.5973, 0.3501, and 0.3167 g dry mucilage/g mucilage solution, respectively. Rheological measurements showed mucilage
concentration to significantly affect the viscosity, density, and surface tension of water at temperatures ranging from 293 to 328 K.