IPB Student Identifies the Characteristics of the Active Compound Of the Apple Snails
Pomacea canaliculata, common name the channeled applesnail, is a species of large freshwater snail with gills and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Ampullariidae, the apple snails. It is one of the most commonly found animals, and in Indonesia, farmers have considered P. canaliculata to be the most serious pest of rice. Earlier research mentioned that the P. canaliculata during his life able to produce as many as 15-20 eggs group, each group amounted to approximately 500 grains with a percentage of hatching more than 85%. Golden apple snail has been known as rice corps pest due to high adaptability and reproductive power.
Muhammad Reyhan, Student of the Department of Aquatic Product Technology, of the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, of Bogor Agricultural University (FPIK IPB) implemented the research program on the utilization of P. canaliculata eggs.
According to Reyhan, the P. canaliculata eggs are bright pink in color. It is allegedly showed the active compound content of natural pigment carotenoid. "This natural pigment is needed as a food dye or colour design in health care," he said.
Reyhan carried out research program on “Karakterisasi dan Identifikasi Senyawa Aktif Ekstrak Pigmen Telur Keong Mas (Pomacea canaliculata) (Characterization and Identification of Active Compound Extract of P. canaliculata. This research was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ir. Nurjanah and Dr. Asadatun Abdullah.
The research method used by Reyhan is pigment extraction using acetone and methanol, phytochemical analysis, qualitative pigment determination with TLC and semi active quantitative compound determination.
"The results showed that active compounds in the methanol extract contain 11 carotenoid pigments of xanthophyl group, two carotenoid pigments of carotene group, and 7 active compounds in non-pigmented form. Whereas the acetone extract contain 11 pigment carotenoids of xanthophyl group and and 6 active compounds in the form of non-pigment," he said.
Reyhan expected that the results of his study will provide information related to active compounds that exist in P. canaliculata eggs. "I also hope the results of this study can be applicable for both food and non-food products," he concluded. (Wied)
