City of Mandaluyong Science High School

E. Pantaleon St., Hulo, Mandaluyong City

FEASIBILITY OF ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS (OKRA) AS THE MAIN

INGREDIENT IN MAKING A PAPER

Submitted by:
Evette Moira A. Mag-alasin
Anna Casiano
Lyka Guerrero
Grade 8- Mendel

Submitted to:
Mrs. Stephanie Fababair
Research I Teacher

INTRODUCTION
Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) okra is a widely cultivated vegetable and can be found
in almost every market all over the Philippines.

Okra is also known as lady

finger,Gumbo,Bindi,Okoro . Botanically, okra is a perennial flowering plant belongs to

the

Malvaceae (mallows) family,

and

named

scientifically

as Abelmoschus

esculentus. It is commonly cultivated in warm temperate and tropical areas.

They usually gathered while the pods are green, tender, and at immature stage. The
plant is cultivated throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions around the world
for their fibrous fruits or "pods." It grows best in well-drained and manure rich soil.
There are different uses of okra plants. They are used as vegetables, herbal plants
and for papermaking.
The fruits, flowers and leaves of the Okra plant is used as vegetable while its stem
can be made into lovely wrapping paper and can be used in all kinds of crafts. Note:
Okra paper is rough so it is not something to write on.
In this research work, the researchers aim to know the The Feasibility Of
Abelmoschus Esculentus (Okra) As The Main Ingredient In Making A Paper and to
determine the quality produced out of it.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This field of investigation titled The Feasibility Of Abelmoschus Esculentus (Okra)
As The Main Ingredient In Making A Paper aimed to determine if okra can be the main
ingredient in papermaking as well as to know the quality produced out of it.
In particular, it sought to answer the following problems:
1. Can okra be used as the main ingredient in making paper?
2. What is the quality (texture) of paper produced from okra?
3.Can okra be a cheaper source of paper?
4. Does okra contain a component that can be used for making paper?
5.Can it be considered as a replacement for non-biodegradable paper?
Hypothesis:
The sub-problems were anchored on the following hypotheses|
1. Okra can be used as the main ingredient in making paper
2. The texture of the paper is rough.
3. Okra can be a cheaper source of paper
4. Okra contains a component in papermaking.
5. Okra can be considered as a replacement for non-biodegradable paper.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study was conducted to know the Feasibility Of Abelmoschus Esculentus
(Okra) As The Main Ingredient In Making A Paper. With abundance of okra in the
countrys market, this study proposes great economical value. This will also benefit the
environment as it will lessen waste materials like papers and provide an alternative
organic component in making a paper .This study will also serve as a future reference
for researchers.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

This study focuses only to the Feasibility of Abelmoschus Esculentus (Okra) As
The Main Ingredient In Making A Paper. This was conducted in City of Mandaluyong
Science High School in school year 2014-2015.
The materials used in this study were okra stems, blender, plain wooden frame,
slightly larger than the paper you want to make ,window screen large enough to fit over
the frame, staple gun ,14 gallon plastic bin ,large stainless steel, cooking pot, soda ash,
wooden spoon, large sponge, piece of felt or wool fabric the same size as your frame,
old newspapers. Descriptions on the quality of the paper were limited only to the
qualitative observations of the product.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
The following terms are hereby defined in this study.

Bast - The fibrous, inner bark of trees or shrubs

Calcium Carbonate - a compound CaCO3 found in nature as calcite and
aragonite and in plant ashes, bones, and shells and used especially in

making lime and portland cement

Fiber- is a type of carbohydrate that the body cant digest. Though most
carbohydrates are broken down into sugar molecules, fiber cannot be
broken down into sugar molecules, and instead it passes through the body
undigested. Fiber helps regulate the bodys use of sugars, helping to keep

hunger and blood sugar in check.

Mucilage
water-soluble

the galacturonorhamnan group

Okra- also known as "lady finger", is one of the popular nutritious

acidic

polysaccharide

in

vegetables of North-Eastern Africa origin. They usually gathered while the

pods are green, tender, and at immature stage. The plant is cultivated
throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions around the world for
their fibrous fruits or "pods." It grows best in well-drained and manure rich
soil.

Research Paradigm

InpProcesOut
Review of Related Literature

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) is the only vegetable crop of significance in the

Malvaceae family and is very popular in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. In India, it ranks
number one in its consumption but its original home is Ethiopia and Sudan, the northeastern African countries. It is one of the oldest cultivated crops and presently grown in
many countries and is widely distributed from Africa to Asia, southern Europe and
America. It is a tropical to subtropical crop and is sensitive to frost; low temperature,
water logging and drought conditions, and the cultivation from different countries have
certain adapted distinguishing characteristics specific to the country to which they
belong. It is an oligo purpose crop, but it is usually consumed for its green tender fruits
as a vegetable in a variety of ways. These fruits are rich in vitamins, calcium, potassium
and other mineral matters. The mature okra seed is a good source of oil and protein has
been known to have superior nutritional quality. Okra seed oil is rich in unsaturated fatty
acids such as linoleic acid, which is essential for human nutrition. Its mature fruit and
stems contain crude fibre, which is used in the paper industry.( www.irjpas.com)
OKRA
The species is an annual and perennial, growing to 2 m tall. It is related to such
species as cotton,cocoa, and hibiscus. The leaves are 1020 cm long and broad, palmately
lobed with 57 lobes. Theflowers are 48 cm in diameter, with five white to yellow petals,
often with a red or purple spot at the base of each petal. The fruit is a capsule up to 18 cm
long, containing numerous seeds.
Abelmoschus esculentus is cultivated throughout the tropical and warm temperate
regions of the world for its fibrous fruits or pods containing round, white seeds. It is among
the most heat- and drought-tolerant vegetable species in the world and will

tolerate soils with heavy clay and intermittent moisture but frost can damage the pods. In
compound farms in the rainforest of southeastern Nigeria (Okafor and Fernandes, 1986),
farmers have developed a multi-crop system that provides a diversified and continuous
production of food, combining species with different maturity periods such as yams,
cassava, cocoyams, bananas, plantain, maize, okra, pumpkin, melon, leafy vegetables and
a variety of trees and shrubs, 60 of which provide food products. This ensures a balanced
diet but also reduces the need for storage in an area where post-harvest losses are high.
In cultivation, the seeds are soaked overnight prior to planting to a depth of 1
2 cm. Germination occurs between six days (soaked seeds) and three weeks. Seedlings
require ample water. The seed pods rapidly become fibrous and woody, and, to be edible,
must be harvested within a week of the fruit having been pollinated. The fruits are harvested
when immature and eaten as a vegetable.
The most common disease afflicting the okra plant is verticillium wilt, often causing a
yellowing and wilting of the leaves. Other diseases include powdery mildew in dry tropical
regions, leaf spots, and root-knot nematodes.(Wikipedia.com)
PAPER
Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together moist fibers,
typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible
sheets.
Paper is a versatile material with many uses. Whilst the most common is for writing and
printing upon, it is also widely used as a packaging material, in many cleaning products, in a

number of industrial and construction processes, and even as a food ingredient

particularly in Asian cultures.
Paper, and the pulp papermaking process, was said to be developed in China during
the early 2nd century AD, possibly as early as the year 105 A.D., by
the Han court eunuch Cai Lun, although the earliest archaeological fragments of paper
derive from the 2nd century BC in China.
The modern pulp and paper industry is global, with China leading production and the
United States behind it. (papermag.com)