Effect of fungi isolates on proximate composition of natural and pure-culture fermentation of African yam bean (Sphenostylis sternocarpa Harms.) seeds

Abstract

Cream colored variety of African yam bean (Sphenostylis sternocarpa Harms) seeds were natural fermentation for 72h, 96h and 120 hours respectively at 280C . Microbiological analysis was carried out on the raw and fermented AYB to determine the types of fungi present in the samples. The fungi isolated from the fermented sample were Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida mycoderm and Aspergillus niger. Aspergillus niger was the only mould isolated from the raw seeds which disappeared after dehulling. Each of the fungi encountered from naturally fermented samples was used to ferment the seeds at 300C for 72 h after autoclaving the seeds at 1210C for 15 minutes. The result of proximate composition showed that processing significantly (p?0.05) affected the composition of the seeds. The highest protein content (44.22± 0.07%) was observed in sample fermented at 120 hours. Protein enrichment was highest in sample fermented with Candida mycoderm (29.35± 0.46%) and the least was observed in sample fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (24.73± 0.06%).