Abstract:The oil palm expeller glutelin-1（OPEG-1）was modified by limited enzymatic hydrolysis，which yielded three products with the degrees of hydrolysis being 6.28%，17.35%，and 22.67%，respectively. The sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis（SDS-PAGE）results indicated that OPEG-1 had the molecular weight range of 18.8-51.5 kDa and consisted of six subunits. The molecular weight of OPEG-1 decreased significantly with the increase in the degree of hydrolysis.Limited enzymatic hydrolysis significantly reduced the surface hydrophobicity of OPEG-1，which presented a negative correlation with the degree of hydrolysis.The limited enzymatic hydrolysis with the degree of hydrolysis within the range of 6.28%-17.35% significantly increased the emulsibility of OPEG-1.While the degree of hydrolysis was 22.67%，OPEG-1 demonstrated remarkably decreased emulsibility.The limited enzymatic hydrolysis with the degree of hydrolysis ranging from 6.28% to 17.35% significantly increased the emulsibility of OPEG-1 at different pH levels. The limited enzymatic hydrolysis with the degree of hydrolysis being 17.35% significantly improved the emulsibility of OPEG-1 at different ionic strengths of 0.1-0.2 mol/L.The emulsifying properties of OPEG-1 and its enzymatic hydrolysates were enhanced with increase in pH within the range of pH2.0-4.0. Enhancing the ionic strength within 0-0.1 mol/L significantly improved the emulsibility of OPEG-1 and its enzymatic hydrolysates and emulsifying stability was slightly improved，while that within 0.2-0.6 mol/L weakened the emulsibility and emulsifying stability of OPEG-1 and its enzymatic hydrolysates. The results showed that limited enzymatic hydrolysis can effectively improve the emulsifying properties and broaden the application of OPEG-1 in the food industry.