International Journal of Aquaculture, 2025, Vol.15, No.4, 208-220 http://www.aquapublisher.com/index.php/ija 217 7.3 Diversified processing forms and market expansion In addition to fresh sales, processing and adding value to water chestnuts is also an important direction to improve industrial efficiency. In recent years, some new progress has been made in the processing and utilization of water chestnuts: for starch processing, the breeding variety with high starch content has been introduced, and its bulb starch rate is 5 percentage points higher than that of ordinary varieties. Water chestnut starch processing plants have been established in Guangxi and other places, and their products have been exported to Southeast Asia. Using the crispy taste of water chestnuts, a variety of convenience foods have been developed. Such as vacuum fried water chestnut slices (horsehound slices), freeze-dried water chestnut kernels, etc., the flavor and nutrition of water chestnuts are retained to the greatest extent. The skin and residue of water chestnuts are rich in polyphenols and dietary fiber. Studies have shown that water chestnut peel extract has strong antioxidant and antibacterial activities and can be used as a natural additive for food preservation. At present, phenolic compounds such as puchiin have been isolated from the skin of water chestnuts, and it was found that they have a significant inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli (Figure 2) (Amaliaa et al., 2023). These extracts are expected to be developed into plant-sourced preservatives or health care ingredients. At the same time, water chestnut residue can be mixed with cereal powder to prepare high-fiber brewed food, or used as feed raw materials to achieve comprehensive utilization of by-products. Figure 2 Microscopic result of dried powdered sample of E. dulcis. A: oil gland cell; B: collenchyma; C: vascular bundle; D: spongy parenchyma; E: cork tissue cell; and F: Amylum (Adopted from Amaliaa et al., 2023) 8 Industrial Development and Future Challenges 8.1 Regional planting pattern and brand building China's water chestnut production has obvious regional concentration, with South China and Central China as the main production areas. At present, Guangxi's planting area and output rank first in the country, and Guilin Horseshoe, Yulin Beiliu Water Chest and other regional specialty agricultural products have become regional specialty agricultural products. Panyu, Guangdong, Fujian, Qianshan, Jiangxi, Shaodong, Hunan and other places
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