Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore-560080.
Interactions of particle size of dry D. floribunda tuber material and times of hydrolysis in diosgenin extraction process were studied. Eighty mesh size tuber powder after hydrolysis with 2.5 N Hydrochloric acid for 120 minutes in a boiling waterbath and subsequent extraction gave maximum diosgenin yield. Identically maximum yields were obtained by grinding oven dried tuber material in Braun mixi for 5 minutes with water and subsequently extracting diosgenin. Tuber powder of 150 mesh size gave less residue after acid hydrolysis than other sizes. However, the diosgenin yield was less compared to 80 mesh tuber powder and tuber powder homogenised in Braun mixi with water.
