Abstract Description

Sawdust is a wood byproduct composed of fine particles of wood, which possess a significant concentration of polysaccharides, particularly xylan, rendering it a suitable source for producing nutraceutical oligosaccharides. There has been an increasing interest in the production of xylooligosaccharides (XOS) for health enhancement in people and animals due to their diverse bioactive properties, including prebiotic and antioxidant activities. This study reports on the extraction of xylan from Acacia, pine, and Poplar sawdust, followed by characterisation and hydrolysis utilising endo-β-1,4-xylanase (XynA) from Thermomyces lanuginosus to produce XOS. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD), and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) were used for structural investigations of xylan. Finally, xylanase was employed to depolymerise xylan, yielding XOSs, which were characterised using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and evaluated for their antioxidant and prebiotic properties. The physicochemical characterisation of the extracted xylan confirmed that high-purity xylan, free of lignin, was obtained, and that the enzyme used exhibited greater activity on poplar xylan compared to Acacia and pine. The extraction yield was 20.56 %, 14.24 %, and 12.5 % for Acacia, Poplar, and pine, respectively. The produced XOS presented a high degree of diversity, containing oligosaccharides with 1–6 units of sugar and more. In addition, all the XOS exhibited antioxidant and prebiotic potential, making them suitable candidates as food additives for both humans and animals. The findings of this investigation suggest that Acacia, pine, and Poplar sawdust are potential alternate sources of commercial xylan, which can be utilised to produce XOS, a prebiotic that can be orally administered to promote the robust growth of probiotic bacteria in the host's digestive tract.