Polyphenol Oxidase Activity and Inhibition in White Yam (Dioscorea Rotundata. Var. Laasirin) Chips as African Fries for Human Consumption

Abstract

Polyphenol oxidase, a bi-functional enzyme, has been implicated in enzymatic browning of yam and other tubers in a negative way. The objective of this present study was to examine the activity of polyphenol oxidase in Dioscorea rotundata. Var. laasirin and the efficiency of heat and chemical treatments in inhibiting this enzyme. Crude Polyphenol Oxidase (PPO) of Dioscorea rotundata.Var. Laasirin was isolated and the kinetics studied using the lineweaver-burk plot. The activity of the enzyme was evaluated using spectrophotomeric method. Yam PPO catalyzes oxidation of various substrates with catechol being the most readily oxidized substrate. The Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) and maximum reaction velocity (Vmax) for yam PPO were 0.00037 and 0.3125 respectively. Inhibition data showed that the enzyme had least activity (71.70) when blanched at 95 °C for 7 mins with chemical treatment involving a combination of 0.5% Sodium metabisulphite (Food grade) and 0.5% Ascorbic acid (Food grade). The activity was highest (83.02) when it was blanched at 95 °C for 7 mins. This study has shown that it is possible to inhibit polyphenol oxidase activity in white yam using the chemical pretreatments and processing conditions described in this study for possible adoption in the production of packaged frozen yam chips by food industries.