Guar

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Guar

The guar bean or cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonolobus), an annual legume

Legume

A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A legume fruit is a Fruit#Simple fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually Dehiscence on two sides....
, is the source of guar gum

Guar gum

Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan. It is primarily the ground endosperm of guar beans. The guar seeds are dehusked, milled and screened to obtain the guar gum....
. It grows best under conditions with frequent rainfall, but tolerates arid conditions well. 80% of world production is in India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, but due to strong demand, it is being introduced into new areas. It is known as "kotthavarai" (??????????????) in Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has Official language in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore....
.

best growth, the guar bean requires full sunshine, flashing rainfalls that are moderately frequent, and well drained soil.

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The guar bean or cluster bean (Cyamopsis tetragonolobus), an annual legume

Legume

Guar gum

India

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has Official language in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore....
.

Cultivation

For best growth, the guar bean requires full sunshine, flashing rainfalls that are moderately frequent, and well drained soil. However, it is extremely drought tolerant and thrives in semi-arid

Arid

A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the Individual growth and Morphogenesis of plant and animal life....
regions. Too much precipitation can cause the plant to become more "leafy" thereby reducing the number of pods and/or the number of seeds per pod that affects the size and yield of seeds. The crop is sown after the first rains in July and harvested in late October. It is grown principally in northwestern India

India

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
with smaller crops grown in the semi-arid areas of the high plains of Texas in the USA

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
. The most important growing area centres on Jodhpur

Jodhpur

Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, also known as Marwar....
in Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rajasthan is the largest States and territories of India of the Republic of India in terms of area. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with Pakistan....
, India.

Currently India is the source of about 80% of the world production of guar gum. Several commercial growers have converted their crops to guar production to support the increasing demand for guar and other organic crops in the United States.

Varieties: Pusa Naubahar and Pusa Sadabahar. Seeds at the rate of 10 to 12 kilograms/hectare

Hectare

A hectare is a unit of area equal to , or one square hectometre , and commonly used for surveying.The hectare is used in most countries around the world, especially in domains concerned with land ownership, land planning, and land management, including law , agriculture, forestry, and town planning....
s (9–11 lb

Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a Units of measurement of massused in the Imperial unit, United States customary units and other systems of measurement....
/acre

Acre

The acre is a Units of measurement of area in a number of different systems, including the Imperial unit#Measures of area and United States customary units#Units of area systems....
) are planted at a spacing of 45-60 x 20-30 cm (18–24 x 8–12 in) in February-March and June-July. During rainy season, the seeds are sown 2-3 cm (~1 in) deep on ridges and in furrows during summer months. FYM is applied at the rate of 25 tonnes/ha (11.1 tons

Short ton

The short ton is a unit of weight equal to 2,000 Pound . In the United States it is often called simply ton without distinguishing it from the metric ton or the long ton ; rather, the other two are specifically noted....
/acre). N, P2O5 and K2O recommendation for the crop is 20:60:80 kg/ha (18:53:71 lb/acre). Average yield is 5 to 6 tonnes/ha (2.2–2.6 tons/acre).

Uses

Agriculture

Guar can be fed to cattle

Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
, or used as a green manure

Green manure

In agriculture, a green manure is a type of cover crop grown primarily to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil. Typically, a green manure crop is grown for a specific period, and then plowed under and incorporated into the soil....
.

Food

Guar can be eaten as a green bean

Green bean

Green beans , French beans or runner beans , also called squeaky beans, are the unripe fruit of any kind of bean, including the yardlong bean, the hyacinth bean, the winged bean, and especially the common bean , whose pods are also usually called string beans in the northeastern United States, but can also go by snap b...
, but is more important as the source of guar gum. Guar beans have a large endosperm

Endosperm

Endosperm is the tissue produced in the seeds of most flowering plants around the time of fertilization. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, though it can also contain Vegetable oils and protein....
that contains galactomannan

Galactomannan

Galactomannans are polysaccharides consisting of a mannose backbone with galactose side groups .In order of increasing number of mannose-to-galactose ratio:...
gum, a substance which forms a gel

Gel

A gel is a solid, gelatin material that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute crosslinked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state....
in water. This is commonly known as guar gum

Guar gum

Ice cream

Ice cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients....
and as a stabilizer in cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cattle, Water Buffalo, goats, or sheep's milk. It is produced by Coagulation of the milk protein casein....
and cold-meat processing.

Another use is as a fiber supplement. After being partially hydrolyzed

Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which one or more water are split into hydrogen and hydroxide ions which may go on to participate in further reactions....
, guar gum is completely soluble in water and soft food. Being approximately 75% dietary fiber, it allows fiber to be added to a food with a minimal effect on taste and texture.

Partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG) is produced by the partial enzymatic hydrolysis

Hydrolysis

Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction during which one or more water are split into hydrogen and hydroxide ions which may go on to participate in further reactions....
of guaran, the galactomannan

Galactomannan

Galactomannans are polysaccharides consisting of a mannose backbone with galactose side groups .In order of increasing number of mannose-to-galactose ratio:...
of the endosperm of guar seeds (guar gum

Guar gum

Polysaccharide

Polysaccharides are relatively complex carbohydrates. They are polymers made up of many monosaccharides joined together by glycosidic bonds. They are therefore very large, often branched, macromolecules....
consisting of a mannose

Mannose

Mannose is a sugar monomer of the hexose series of carbohydrates....
backbone chain with single galactose

Galactose

Galactose is a type of Carbohydrate which is less sweetness than glucose. It is considered a nutritive sweetener because it has food energy.Galactan is a polymer of the sugar galactose....
side units occurring on almost two out of every three mannose units. The average molecular weight is about 25,000 Daltons. This gives a PHGG that still assays and functions as a soluble dietary fiber. PHGG as sold commercially is completely soluble, acid and heat stable, unaffected by ions, and will not gel at high concentrations. PHGG is fully fermentable in the large bowel with a high rate of volatile fatty acid formation. The pH of the feces is lowered along with an increase in fecal bulk that mainly consists of bacteria cell mass and water. Clinical studies have demonstrated a prebiotic affect of PHGG. Studies have also shown that PHGG can be used to maintain regularity. PHGG is used in foods for particulate suspension, emulsification, anti-staling, ice crystal control, and reduced fat baked goods.

Industrial uses

Derivatives of Guar gum that has been further reacted is also used in industrial applications such as the paper and textile industry, ore flotation, the manufacture of explosives and hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing is a method used to create Fracture that extend from a borehole into rock formations, which are typically maintained by a proppant, a material such as grains of sand or other material which prevent the fractures from closing....
of oil and gas formations. Guar gum has also proven a useful substitute for locust bean gum

Locust bean gum

Locust bean gum is a galactomannan vegetable gum extraction from the seed of the Carob tree. It is used as a thickening agent and gelling agent in food technology....
(made from carob seeds).

Guar

Cultivation

Uses

Agriculture

Food

Industrial uses

External links

Scientific Literature