Background: Starch is one of the excipients that widely used in tablet formulation. One of the bamboo shoots that can be used for pharmaceutical purpose is bamboo shoots from Bambusa vulgaris Schard. Aim:The purpose of this study was to develop and analyze the physicochemical properties of starch from bamboo shoots of Bambusa vulgaris Schard. with different extraction methods, steaming and soaking. Method: Organoleptic properties, moisture content, size diameter, bulk and tapped density, the angle of response and flow rate, and solubility were physically evaluated for two different methods. Starch content, amylose-amylopectin ratio, pH, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and HCN level were used to evaluate the chemical properties of starch. Results: With qualitative testing using iodine solution and FT-IR to confirm the functional groups of starch, it showed that the starch is produced from both methods. The result of this study showed that pH, bulk and tapped density, starch content and amylopectin content were significantly different (p<0,05) between two methods by independent t-test. By steaming method, HCN level was lower and the starch and amylopectin content was higher than soaking method. pH of starch meets the requirement by steaming method. Conclusion: Starch from bamboo shoot of Bambusa vulgaris Schard. with steaming method has good physicochemical characteristics, contained higher amount of starch content and lower amount of HCN. Due to higher amount of amylopectin, starch from bamboo shoot of Bambusa vulgaris Schard. is suitable as a binder for tablet formulation.

Keywords: Bamboo shoot starch, Bambusa vulgaris Schard.,Steaming and soaking method, physicochemical test