Getting to know sago (palm and starch)

The Story of Sago (Metroxylon sagu):

Unraveling the potentials

A. A. Karim Universi. Sains Malaysia

Penang, Malaysia

9th International Hydrocolloids Conference, June 15-19, 2008, Singapore

Classification of commercial starch

Tubers/roots– potato, sweet potato, cassava

Cereals– corn, wheat, rice, oats, barley, sorghum

Classification of commercial starch

Sago starch is the only example of commercial starch derived from the stem of palm

Comparison of starch yield

Crop Yield (tons/ha) per year

Sago 24 Rice 6.6 Corn 5.5 Wheat 5 Potato 2.5

The produc.vity of sago per land area is the highest among the starch crops, i.e. 3-‐4 .mes > rice and ~17 .mes higher than cassava – tremendous poten.al for commercial produc.on

}  Sago is one of the unexploited crops (commercially), less understood and appreciated

}  Exploited as a staple food for people in certain parts of Asia and the Pacific Region.

}  Long matura.on period

}  low produc.on volume, due to lack of modern farming and harves.ng methods

}  low-‐quality starch produced (inefficient extrac.on and processing methods )

}  lack of a comprehensive strategy to promote the sago palm

Challenges

Let’s take a walk through the sago palm forest

Sago palm in the wild

Photo credit: M. Okazaki, A.B. Loreto, M.T.P. Loreto, M.A. Quevedo (le]); Dulce Flores (right)

}  Sago palm is found growing wild in the marshlands where other crops cannot thrive.

}  Sago palm thrives in wetland, swampy area, and other areas where water is abundant.

Sago palm – the robust crop

Photo credit: M. Okazaki, A.B. Loreto, M.T.P. Loreto, M.A. Quevedo (le]); Dulce Flores (right)

}  Sago palm is tolerant of low pH, high levels of Al, Fe, and Mn in the soil, soil salinity, as well as heavy impervious clays

}  Hence, it has a strong advantage for cul.va.on in underu.lized wet and peat swamp rain forests for increasing agricultural produc.on

Geographical distribu.on of sago palms

Most of the 2.6 million ha of sago palm in the world is found in tropical Asia, mainly in PNG (41% of the global total) and Indonesia (47% of the global total)

~ 2.6 million ha of natural sago forests out of 20 million ha of total swamp area in Asia and the Pacific Region -‐ untapped/largely unexploited

PNG considered the centre of sago palm diversity

In Malaysia, sago palms are largely found in the State of Sarawak (East Malaysia)

Aerial view of the vast sago palm in the Sepik area of Papua New Guinea

Photo credit: Prof. Toyoda, Tokyo University

Papua has been considered as one of the centers of sago diversity, due to the vast natural stands and the high gene.c varia.on of sago palm trees that have been found in these areas

Unfortunately, there is no significant development in establishing industries based on sago. In contrast, the sago industry in Malaysia (in the State of Sarawak) is well established and has become one of the important industries contribu.ng to export revenue.

}  Covers an area of 1.5 million ha (i.e., 12% of Sarawak’s total land area)

}  In 2005, export of about 45.3 thousand tonnes of food grade sago starch earned about RM40.4 million

Photo credit: Abdullah Chek Sahamat, CRAUN Research Sdn. Bhd.

SARAWAK: SAGO EXPORT VOLUME (1960-2004)

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5,000.00

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65,000.001960

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YEAR

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RIC

TONN

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SAGO INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT (Export Volume)

Abdullah Chek Sahamat, CRAUN Research Sdn. Bhd.

Sago planta.on development by LCDA, Sarawak


Malaysia has been pioneering in the establishment of sago palm planta.on. This is the first sago plantaJon in the world (to achieve sustainable produc.on)

Started with 300 ha in 1989, then increase to 15, 740 ha in 1994

Sago planta.on development by LCDA, Sarawak


Sago planta.on in Mukah, Sarawak


SAGO INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT (Opportunities: Plantation Dev & Mgmt Tech)

Sago planta.on in Mukah, Sarawak Photo credit: Abdullah Chek Sahamat, CRAUN Research Sdn. Bhd.

SAGO INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT (Opportunities: Plantation Dev & Mgmt Tech)

Classifica.on of sago palm

Thorny (spiny)

Non-‐spiny Photo credit: M. Okazaki, A.B. Loreto, M.T.P. Loreto, M.A. Quevedo

The Sago palm

Photo credit: M. Okazaki, A.B. Loreto, M.T.P. Loreto, M.A. Quevedo

In Sarawak, Metroxylon sagu is the preferred sago palm to be planted by the local farmers as the thornless nature of the palm makes it easier to manage.

Sago trunks produces an erect trunk and may reach 7 to 15 m in length and akain an average girth of 120 cm at the base of the palm


• The vegeta.ve phase lasts 7 – 15 years • The starch is found in the pith of the palm

• On average, each palm yields 150 – 175 kg of dry starch; a yield of > 20 tons of sago flour/hectar is possible under favourable growing condi.ons

Growth stage Estimated age from planting

(year)

Palm description

Plawei 10 Palms that have reached maximum vegetative growth

Plawei Manit 11.5 Inflorescence emerging

Bubul 12 Inflorescence developing

Angau Muda 12.5 Flowering

Angau Tua 14 Fruiting

Different physiological growth stages of sago palm

Sago palm at different growth stages

Angau Tua stage

Plawei stage

Angau Muda stage

Inflorescence emerging (Plawei Manit stage)

Fruitless Inflorescence (from Angau Tua stage)

Inflorescence developing (Bubul stage)

Sago palm (growth stages)

Photo credit: Dulces Flores

Total starch content of sago pith from different growth stages

Growth stage Height Starch content (%)

Plawei Base Mid

24.9 20.1

Bubul Base Mid

33.4 35.2

Angau Muda Base Mid

41.3 41.4

Angau Tua Base Mid

39.4 31.3

Late Angau Tua Base Mid

31.6 21.8

Photo credit: Dulce Flores

Cutting the palm tree


Cutting the trunk into 60-100 cm sections


The small farmer brings his cut logs to the factory via the river.

The cut logs are transported to the factory via the river (left) The logs in transit to the starch factory (right)



The tradi.onal method of extrac.on of sago starch

The pith is rasped by means of a chopper or a small hoe made from bamboo


Water is added to the rasped mixture of fiber and pith and kneaded by hand (or trampled by foot)


Collec.on of the wet starch


Some other traditional practices of sago extraction

Drying the thin strips/slices.


Drying stripped pith


Storage of pith chunks


Pulverizing of the dried strips by mortar and pestle

Use of grating machine

Rasping of debarked sago log sec.ons to release starch granules from disintegrated fibers

Modern processing of sago starch

Sago starch

Sago palm thrives in wetland, swampy area, and other areas where water is abundant.


Sago granules under light microscope (x40) Iodine stained granules in sago fiber (x10)

Iodine stained sago granules in sac (x40) Iodine stained granules in sago fiber (x40)

Sago starch

Native sago starch granules

Broad granule size distribu.on (10-‐65 µm; average 31 µm) Compare: Rice (3-‐10 µm) Corn (5-‐20 µm) Cassava (5-‐25 µm) Potato (15-‐85 µm)

Comparison of some starch proper.es }  Amylose content: 26 – 30% (sago); 28% (corn), 34% mung bean, 22% potato, 18-‐20% cassava

}  X-‐ray pakern: C-‐type; corn (A-‐type); potato (B-‐type)

}  Pas.ng: Similar gela.niza.on proper.es to that of potato starch

}  Retrograda.on: resembles corn and mungbean

}  Swelling power & solubility: higher than corn, close to sweet potato or cassava but lower than potato

} Whiteness: L=79 (sago); potato, corn, mungbean, cassava (90-‐93)

}  Acid/enzyme suscep.bility: Sago is most resistant compared to other starches

Comparison of some starch proper.es

S. Takahashi, Sago’85

Pasting Profile of Sago Starch from Different Growth Stages

Pasting Profile of Sago Starch

Particle size distribution pattern of sago starch at base and mid

heights of different growth stages.

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0

LATM ATM

AMM BM

PM

LATB ATB AMB

BB PB

Particle size (µm)

Amylose content of sago starch from different growth stages

Growth stage Height Starch content (%)

Plawei Base Mid

24.4 22.9

Bubul Base Mid

23.6 22.7

Angau Muda Base Mid

24.7 24.2

Angau Tua Base Mid

26.6 25.4

Late Angau Tua Base Mid

27.1 26.0

Pasting Profile of Sago Starch from Different Growth Stages

0

30

60

90

120

40

60

80

100

120

0 3 6 9 12 15

Time, mins

Visc

osity

, RVU

Tem

pera

ture

, °C

BL

LAT

AM

PL

AT

Temperature profile

0

30

60

90

120

40

60

80

100

120

0 3 6 9 12 15

Time, mins

Visc

osity

, RVU

Tem

pera

ture

, °C

BL

LAT

AM

PL

AT

Temperature profile

Visc

osity

, RV

U

Tem

pera

ture

, °C

PM

BM

AM

M

ATM

LATM

PB

BB

AM

B

ATB

LATB

70

72

74

76

78

80 Base height Mid height

Pasting tem Peak visc Breakdown Setback

Growth stages Growth stages

Polymorphic form of sago starch

Uses of Sago Starch

Uses of Sago Starch

Sago pearls

Uses of Sago Starch

•  Leaves as roofing material

Useful parts of sago palm

•  The bark as housing materials

Useful parts of sago palm

Conclusion }  In view of the significantly high yield and century-‐long economic life span of sago palm, sago starch should be in a very strong posi.on to compete with starch produced from annual crops

}  If sufficient sago starch of suitable quan.ty were produced, it should be able to penetrate and compete favourably in the current world starch market.

Acknowledgement }  CRAUN Research Sdn. Bhd., Sarawak, Malaysia

} Ministry of Science, Technology & Innova.on

}  Japan Sago Society

}  Japan Society for Promo.on of Science (JSPS)

}  Professor Toyoda, University of Tokyo, Japan

}  Dr Dulce Flores, U.P. Mindanao, Philiphine

}  Dr Okazaki et al., Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology, Japan

}  Dr T. Noda, NARCH, Hokkaido, Japan

}  Prof. Takeda, University of Kagoshima, Japan

Thank you for your aken.on

Education

Getting to know sago (palm and starch)