Ovalbumin–gum arabic interactions: Effect of pH, temperature, salt, biopolymers ratio and total concentration

The formation of soluble and insoluble complexes between ovalbumin (OVA) and gum arabic (GA) polysaccharide was investigated under specific conditions (pH 1.0–7.0; temperature 4–55 °C; NaCl concentration 0–60 mM; total biopolymer concentration 0.05–3.0 wt%) by turbidimetric analysis. For the 2:1 OVA:GA ratio and in the absence of NaCl, soluble and insoluble complexes were observed at pH 4.61 (pHφ1) and 4.18 (pHφ2), respectively, with optimal biopolymer interactions occurring at pH 3.79 (pHopt). Under the same conditions, OVA alone gave only a weak turbidity intensity (turbidity <0.03), whereas GA had none. As the temperature increased, critical pH values shifted toward lower pH, and the maximum turbidity value occurred at 25 °C. The region between pHφ1 and pHφ2 was narrowed and the electrostatic interactions became weaker with increasing NaCl concentration. The maximum turbidity value increased as the total biopolymer concentration increased until reaching a critical value (2.0%), afterwards becoming a constant value.