**2.2 Importance of mucilage in** *Abelmoschus*

Mucilage is the water soluble polysaccharides found in various plant systems and in some microorganisms [29]. In present days, there is an immense interest have been seen in studying the mucilaginous compounds due to their viscosity and pharmaceutical applications like, excipient, tablet binder, thickeners in oral liquids, gelling agents, purifiers, protective colloids in suspension gum substitute and effluents in rheological engineering [30]. Most of the species from family Malvaceae are well-known for their mucilage content and it was studied by Ahmad et al. for their properties [31]. The whole plant of *Abelmoschus* species harbor considerable quantity of mucilage, associate mucilage is an acidic polysaccharide composed of galacturonic acid, rhamnose, and glucose with the ratio of 1.3:1.0:0.1, respectively [32]. Okra mucilage contains a significant amount of carbohydrate, neutral sugars, minerals and other complex polysaccharides [33] which medically confirmed that mucilage is associated with antimicrobial, antiulcer, hypoglycemic and anticancer activities [26].

Mucilage isolated from immature fruits and roots of okra showed significant anti-complementary activity and extensive hypoglycemic activities because root mucilage possesses side chains composed of D-galactopyranose residues and L-rhamnopyranosyl residues in the part of the backbone [34]. Okra mucilage was described as water soluble polysaccharide based material which can be further modified by grafting acrylamide for the synthesis of green polymeric material and it was issued as the biomaterial for waste water treatment as an environment cleaning approach [35]. Nair and Fasha analyzed mucilage of *A. esculentus* and *A. moschatus* and recommended for their used in preparation of pharmaceutical suspensions [36]. Apart from the environment cleaning and medicinal values, there are various applications discussed, okra mucilage can be utilized for pharmaceutical adjuvant, emulsifying agent [37] excipients and binding agent for the formulation of pharmaceutical dosage using Ibuprofen and Paracetamol tablet [38]. It is also used to prepare polyelectrolyte complex with the help of chitosan and used as coating material [39]. Okra mucilage is also used as the suspending agent and pharmaceutical excipients [40, 41]. Mucoadhesive gel was prepared from okra fruit mucilage and used for nasal drug delivery [42].

*Abelmoschus* stem and *Hibiscus* leaves mucilage was used to analyze the nutritive values such as moisture, fat, fiber, protein, carbohydrate, and energy value and further same mucilage powder was used to prepare idli, upma and roti and evaluate for consumer acceptability and nutritive values. These products have great acceptableness in terms of texture, color, taste and flavor [43]. Okra mucilage can be potentially utilized as the blending mediator in a food emulsion system [44] and having biodegradable and non-toxic coagulant property [45]. Apart from these it is natural source for edible film production [46] and has excellent potential in food packaging [47].
