Unveiling the implications of pectin conformation for melon juice stability under an industrial-scale microfluidizer system
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Published on: September 25, 2026
Ke Ding1, Xiao Zhu2, Ying Xie1
1Longping Agricultural College, Hunan University, Changsha, 410125, China; DongTing Laboratory, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Fruits and Vegetables Storage Processing and Quality Safety, Institute of Agricultural Product Processing and Quality Safety of Hunan, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; Yuelushan Laboratory, Changsha, 410125, China.
Abstract:
Pectin, a critical endogenous component in turbid juices, is vital to juice stability. This study employed an industrial-scale microfluidizer system (ISMS) to process whole melon juice (WMJ), evaluating its effects on physical stability and elucidating conformational changes in endogenous pectin and mechanisms contributing to stability. Results demonstrated that ISMS significantly enhanced WMJ physical stability. As pressure increased from 0 to 120 MPa, the average particle size (D[4,3]) decreased from 470 μm to 87 μm. Further characterization of endogenous pectin structure and conformation revealed that ISMS induced conformational changes in endogenous pectin fractions. Specifically, endogenous pectin tended to adopt more compact conformations (smaller Rc, and Dmax for the endogenous pectins) after ISMS treatment, exhibiting shortened inter-chain distances and increased chain entanglement, thereby forming a stable three-dimensional network that improved WMJ stability. This study demonstrated how ISMS modulated pectin conformation to enhance WMJ stability, offering a framework for processing pectin-containing juices.
