Structural Characteristics of Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) Bone Gelatin: Effects of Different Liming Methods

Fish bone is a good source of gelatin. In this study, gelatins were prepared from tilapia bone after the bone was pretreated with alkali protease, desalted immediately by 0.6 mol L^?1 HCl, and hydrolyzed by papain or limed by Ca(OH)₂. Gelatins extracted from papain-treated tilapia bone exhibited space structures similar to those of alkali-treated tilapia bone. Despite this similarity, many differences were observed between these gelatin samples. Compared with alkali-treated gelatin, papain-treated gelatins showed higher values for imino residue content, molecular weight proportion, bloom strength, and viscosity. The bloom strengths of the second and third papain-treated gelatins were 163 and 94 bloom, respectively, which were lower than the bloom strength of the first papain-treated gelatin (189 bloom). The viscosities of the three papain-treated gelatin samples were 4.18, 2.81, and 0.51 mPa.s^?1. The first papain-treated gelatin achieved the highest gelling (16 °C) and melting points (23.9 °C). The yields of the first (5.40%) and second (6.71%) papain-treated gelatins were higher than those of the alkali-treated gelatins (3.33 and 5.76%, respectively). However, the yield of the third papain-treated gelatin (2.27%) was lower than that of the third alkali-treated gelatin (5.42%). More importantly, papain hydrolysis can prevent destruction by Ca(OH)₂ in the bone structure and effectively reduce the denaturation temperature of tilapia bone collagen. Moreover, papain hydrolysis can dramatically reduce the time required for liming (0.8% of traditional liming process spent). Papain hydrolysis is a clean production method that can replace traditional liming.