Protein Enrichment of Irish potato (Solanium tuberosium) peels through Solid Substrate Fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus Niger

Abstract

Flour prepared from dried potato peels were inoculated with pure strains of either Aspergillus niger or Saccharomyces cerevisiae and then left to ferment for seven days. Chemical analysis of the fermented peel mash revealed a significant (P< 0.05) increase in the crude protein content (13.62%) of the potato peel mash when compared with the unfermented potato peel (10.50%).The result also shows that fermentation increased significantly the crude protein, ash, lipid and fibre contents of the fermented potato peel mash, while a decrease in carbohydrate was observed. Moisture concentration of 125%, temperature of 30 O C and 25 O C and a pH of 3.5 and 5.5 were found to be optimum for the growth of A. niger and S. cerevisiae on the mash. Increase in all mass resulting from the growth of the two fungi contributed to the resultant increase in the crude protein content of the fermented mash. The fermented peels could therefore be a good source of cheap protein enriched feed.