The Amino Acid and Mineral Composition of Mono-Culture Fungal Fermented Baobab (Adansonia digitata) Seed
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Date
2015
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Abstract
The effects of fungal fermentation on the amino acid profile and mineral composition of the pulverized seed of baobab (Adansonia digitata) were investigated in this study. Penicillium citrinum, Penicillium chrysogenum, Rhizopus stolonifer, Mucor hiemalis, Mucor racemosus, Alternaria tenuis, Scopuloriopsis brevicaulis, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus were isolated from naturally decomposed seed kernel and used singly to ferment the seed kernel flour of Baobab for five days (120 hours). The fermented samples were oven dried at 600 C and analyzed for their amino acid and mineral content standard methods. The amino acid content was obtained by using the Technicon sequential multi-sample amino acid analyzer (TSM) while the mineral content was done with the Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). The amino acid values of the fermented samples were higher (1.2-8.7mg/100g protein) compared to the unfermented sample except for phenylalanine (5.2-4.7mg/100gprotein). Essential amino acids particularly methionine, histidine, isoleucine, arginine, leucine, valine threonine and lysine content of fermented samples increased significantly. The chemical score of histidine (168-255%), leucine (127-129%) and threonine (107-109%) in M. hiemalis fermented sample, valine (117-133%) and arginine (102-106%) in P. chrysogenum were found to meet up with the daily requirement reference of the FAO/WHO/UNU standard for livestock, children and adults. The result of the analysis of the mineral composition of the fermented samples; Calcium (257- 559mg/kg) Potassium (258-263mg/kg), Magnesium (60-243mg/kg) and iron (130-188mg/kg) showed that they had significantly increased compared to the unfermented. It is concluded that fermented baobab seed can be a potential replacement of protein in livestock feed formulation.